For Immediate Release: September 12, 2007                            


Sen. Don Barrington

Author of Sales Tax Holiday Praises Its Success

Sales tax collection numbers for the month of August show that the much anticipated back-to-school sales tax holiday was a huge success, resulting in increased revenue for the state of Oklahoma.

Senator Don Barrington, R-Lawton, author of the bill that created the sales tax holiday, said he is excited to see how great a success the holiday was for Oklahoma families and the results it continues to bring to the state.

“These results show that the sales tax holiday was very beneficial to our state and they also show what a positive impact the sales tax holiday had on our economy,” said Barrington.

The collections report by state officials was released on Tuesday showing that the state’s general revenue fund received $130.7 million from sales tax during the month of August, which was a $4.6 million increase from last year. This was due in large part to the extra sales generated during the sales tax holiday.

The back-to-school sales tax holiday was created to help parents who need to buy clothes and shoes under $100 for their children. Businesses saw increased traffic since those shoppers no longer needed to cross state lines to take advantage of the Texas sales tax holiday.

“When authoring this legislation, the goal was to save Oklahoma taxpayers money, and keep shoppers in the state,” Barrington added. “In addition to this goal, our economy received a boost.”

Barrington also thanked Democrat co-author Senator Jay Paul Gumm from Durant for his bipartisan effort to help the sales tax holiday. Senate bill 861 passed the Senate with the support of all 24 Republicans, and received support from 9 Democrat senators. Fifteen Democrats voted against the bill.

Oklahoma families can look forward to this holiday the first weekend in August of every year.

For more information, contact:
Senator Barrington's Office: (405) 521-5563