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Are Sales Tax Holidays Good Public Policy? Some Research Says No

Shoppers get ready for the new school year.
Daniel Case
/
Wikimedia Commons
Shoppers get ready for the new school year.

As many parents head to the checkout lane to take advantage of Ohio's three-day sales tax holiday that starts Friday, some researchers say the tax breaks are mostly a smoke screen.

Jared Walczak is an analyst with the non-partisan Tax Foundation, and he's among the researchers who say sales tax holidays are not effective public policy. He spoke with WOSU's Steve Brown.

Click the play button below to hear their conversation.

Steve Brown grew up in nearby Richwood, Ohio and now lives there with his wife and sons. He started his journalism career as a weekend board operator at WOSU while majoring in journalism at Ohio State, where he also wrote for the student newspaper The Lantern and co-founded the organization Students for Public Broadcasting.