Believe it or not, it’s almost time for back-to-school shopping. And you know what that means, right? Time for a sales tax holiday! Unfortunately, some states have dropped their tax-free shopping days due to budgetary problems, but others are still going strong.

What follows is an alphabetical listing of state sales tax holidays along with a brief summary of what’s included in each case, as well as a link to more information. This should be a fairly comprehensive list, but it’s always possible that I missed something. If I did, please let me know so I can update the list.

Sales tax holidays, state-by-state

Alabama: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing up to $100/item, computers up to $750/item, school supplies up to $50/item, and books up to $30/item. (link)

Connecticut: August 15th-21st. Includes clothing and footwear up to $300/item. (link)

Florida: August 13th-15th. Includes clothing and books up to $50/item and school supplies up to $10/item. (link)

Illinois: August 6th-15th. Includes clothing, footwear, and school supplies up to $100/item. (link)

Iowa: August 6th-7th. Includes clothing up to $100/item. (link)

Louisiana: August 6th-7th. Includes the first $2500 of the purchase price of all “tangible personal property,” not including vehicles. (link)

Maryland: August 8th-14th. Includes clothing and footwear up to $100/item. (link)

Mississippi: July 30th-31st. Includes clothing and footwear up to $100/item. (link)

Missouri: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing up to $100/item, computer software up to $350/item, computers hardware up to $3500/item, and school supplies up to $15/item. (link)

New Mexico: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing up to $100/item, computers up to $1000/item, associated peripherals up to $500/item, and school supplies up to $15/item. (link)

North Carolina: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing and school supplies up to $100/item, instructional materials up to $300/item, computers up to $3500/item, computer supplies up to $250/item, and sports/recreation equipment up to $50/item. (link)

Oklahoma: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing up to $100/item. (link)

South Carolina: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing, clothing accessories, footwear, school supplies, computers, printers, software, and a variety of housewares. No stated limit on value/item. (link)

Tennessee: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing up to $100/item, school supplies up to $100/item, and computers up to $1500/item. (link)

Texas: August 20th-22nd. Includes clothing, footwear, book bags, and school supplies up to $100/item. (link)

Virginia: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing and footwear up to $100/item and school supplies up to $20/item. (link)

Note: There are a handful of other sales tax holidays throughout the year covering things like hurricane preparedness, Energy Star products, and even guns. My focus here was just on the back-to-school sales tax holidays.  And for more tax insights, see the post on 2011 Federal Income Tax Brackets, as there are some important changes coming with the Bush Tax cuts set to expire.