sales-tax-break-hurricane-preparation-updated

Sales Tax Break for Hurricane preparation – UPDATED

Hurricane Season is right around the corner.  Every time I even hear the word hurricane, by stomach turns and my breathing pattern hurricane.jpgchanges (I’m not kidding).   So here’s what I had in mind.  Instead of rushing out the last possible minute after getting a warning, wouldn’t it make sense to get certain necessities now? At the beginning of each Summer we stock up on water – we buy a number of cases of spring water and store it in our garage, this is the item that goes first when there’s an emergency and then you see people buying expensive “designer water” because there is nothing left.  Just go get it now and save yourself the hassle….the good thing is that it won’t go bad. Other items that you should buy are batteries, flashlights or lanterns and stock up on some canned goods, and make sure you have an extra tank of propane gas for your bar-b-q grill. Just in case you have not heard the great news, from June 1 to June 12th is HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS SALES TAX HOLIDAY!! To encourage Floridians to be prepared, certain items will be exempt from sales tax during these 12 days:

  • Flashlights and other portable, self-powered light sources — $20 or less
  • Portable radios, two-way radios and weather-band radios — $75 or less
  • Tarps — $50 or less
  • Gas or diesel fuel containers — $25 or less
  • Batteries — $30 or less (AAA, AA, C and D cell, and 6 and 9 volt batteries)
  • Non-electrical food storage coolers — $30 or less
  • Portable generators — $1,000 or less
  • Carbon monoxide detectors — $75 or less
  • Storm shutter devices — $200 or less

This is a great time to get those big ticket items like generators or even coolers or radios.  I can still remember the year I saw 2 women at my local grocery store playing tug-of-war with the last pack of batteries, or the gentleman at the hardware store standing on top of a generator because it was the last one left. Don’t wait until the last minute, take advantage of this tax break and go get prepared. **UPDATE for May 31, 2007** Beatrice Garcia , in her article entitled “Tax-Free Essentials“, makes refence to this announcement in today’s Business section of The Miami Herald by saying,  “Ines Hegedus-Garcia, a Realtor in Miami Shores who writes a blog on the residential real estate market and the Shores community, has posted a notice about the tax-free shopping days on her website to alert clients and friends and said she’ll be shopping for her supplies during the next 12 days”.