VALDOSTA, Ga. — For the first time since 2010, Georgia will not have a back-to-school sales tax holiday and it has retailers worried.

Tax holidays have become a common practice across the country, to boost shopping in the late summer — typically a slower time for retailers — but their effectiveness in stimulating the economy is debated. 

In Georgia, a tax holiday must be reintroduced every year for re-approval and was successfully approved every year except 2010 and now 2017.

As other states set their weekends to save on back-to-school item, Georgia’s state legislative session came and went with no new introduction of the holiday.  

“I don’t know what happened this year,” said Myrna Ballard, chamber president. “I guess we got comfortable and just assumed it would happen.”

State Rep. Jason Shaw blamed the past recession, saying legislators have had to basically sneak the holiday into being approved, but this year, they just didn’t have the votes. Shaw said the two main groups people look to for these types of budget items both reached the same conclusion that tax holidays don’t work.

“When you see those two groups agreeing, it usually carries a little weight, ’cause usually they’re on opposite ends,” Shaw said. “They came back and said it’s a terrible return on investment. It’s terrible for the taxpayers. So that’s what we have been up against.”

Still, South Georgia retailers say they expect to feel the loss of the tax holiday this year. Business owners voiced concerns about the loss of the shopping event to city and county officials, particularly for counties close to neighboring states that will be offering a holiday.

Tim Nolan, Valdosta Mall general manager, said his shoppers will go running south to Florida.

According to a 1997 study completed by the New York Department of Taxation and Finance, a sales tax holiday failed to stimulate new sales but rather shifts the timing of sales.

The study showed that during a clothing sales tax holiday, sales of exempt goods rose during the holiday but overall retail sales for the year did not increase. However, shoppers waited until the holiday to purchase exempted goods, thereby slowing down sales in the weeks prior to and following the holiday, according to Scott Drenkard and Joseph Henchman with the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.

Kacey Moore and Lakin Craft are the manager and assistant manager, respectively, at a shoe store in the Valdosta Mall. They said the lack of a sales tax holiday will be a big hit for their employees who work on commission.

“The commission is what they work for, and without those shoppers coming in to buy shoes, they won’t be able to get the extra money,” Craft said.

The holiday not only benefits businesses selling exempted goods such as shoes and clothing. It also helps surrounding businesses such as restaurants, said Margo Braski, Chick-fil-a owner. She said the fast-food restaurant sees an increase in customers during the holiday and will be greatly impacted without it.

Shaw asked for the business owners in the audience to tell other lawmakers what they told him. He said they should write letters and meet with the budget and policy makers to explain how it is impacting retailers and residents.

“This is the kind of information we need to kind of sell it to our other border counties,” Shaw said. “We need your help for that.”

Lynn writes for The Valdosta Daily Times.