tn sales tax holiday

This weekend is the annual sales tax holiday in Tennessee. Last year I wrote about how ridiculous some of the exemptions and inclusions were, and turns out this year the same rules apply.  Get your wedding dresses, but not your bridesmaid's dresses. Rather than re-hash everything, here is a link to the 2012 full list of of exemptions and inclusions, and my post from last year....I double checked, and all of the ridiculousness still applies.

origionaly posted 8/5/11:

When I lived in SC, I always would give the State of South Carolina a hard time for having laws that made no sense. You can't by liquor after 7pm, but you can buy a keg at the grocery store until 2am. You can't get your Bailey's, but here, go binge drink on beer. That makes NO sense.

Well I've got a new one that makes no sense, this time courtesy of the State of Tennessee. This weekend is the back-to-school tax free weekend. It's designed to give families a break when they're making all of the purchases geared towards getting the kids ready for school again. That makes sense. The state requires the kids to have certain school supplies, and it gives them a sales tax break to purchase them. Gottcha. They even discount clothes (items under $100) as well as school supplies. This makes sense too, gotta have clothes to wear to school.

We all take advantage of the tax free holiday. Computers fall in the tax free bracket, and since they don't discriminate if you're in school or not, anyone can take advantage of this 'discount.' Thanks, State of Tennessee.

Here's what doesn't make sense. Some of the NAMED exclusions and inclusions on the tax free list. I'll start with the silly ones, and end with the most outrageous. (full list here)

• Belts are tax free, but belt buckles sold individually are not. This separates a 'fashion' purchase from a necessary one. A little nit picky, but I won't get too upset.
• Computers are tax free, but unbundled software is not. Sorry, you can't get that learn to type program for your kids without paying taxes.
• Remote data storage (CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, portable disk drives) is not tax exempt. Sorry kids that paper you wrote last night, can't save & print it out at school, better buy a printer to keep at home. (but that printer is not tax exempt) This REALLY irks me. Do they even understand what the kids need to be successful in school? Or is technology just not a priority?
• BRIDAL GOWNS ARE TAX EXEMPT but bridesmaid dresses & accessories are not. Seriously?!?!

OK Tennessee, if this is where your 'Back-to-School' priorities lay, then we really need to have a sit down talk.