State Capitol Week in Review from Senator Terry Rice
LITTLE ROCK – The Arkansas sales tax holiday this year will be on the first weekend in August, Saturday and Sunday, August 2 and 3.
Consumers will not have to pay sales tax on any articles of clothing that cost less than $100.
The exempted items include pants, shirts, dresses and shoes. Also free from sales tax are bathing suits, baby blankets, underwear, raincoats, uniforms, hats and caps, aprons, neckties, scarves and steel-toes boots.
Diapers, even disposal diapers, are included on the list of exempt items. However, sports equipment will not be exempt, so you will pay sales tax on cleats, baseball gloves, goggles, life preservers, shin guards and shoulder pads.
Accessories are also on the list of exempted items, as long as they cost less than $50. The list of articles is extensive, and includes handbags and purses, sunglasses, jewelry, hair notions, wallets, watches and wigs.
More than 65 categories of cosmetics are exempt from the sales tax, such as mascara, many types of hair products, fingernail polish and fingernail remover, bath salts, artificial eyelashes, perfume and stretch mark cream.
School supplies will be exempt from the sales tax. Officially the first weekend of August is called the sales tax holiday, but many people refer to it as the “Back to School” sales tax holiday. That’s because the legislature intentionally scheduled it for early August, to benefit families with children going to school.
School supplies include pens, pencils and paper as well as art supplies.
Thanks to Act 944 of 2021 some electronic and computer equipment were added to the list of tax exempt items.
Laptops, desktops, tablets, printers, keyboards, calculators, cell phones, e-readers and monitors are exempt from the sales tax. However, video games, stereos and televisions are not included.
Arkansas families will save an estimated $2.6 million on purchases of electronic and computer equipment.
The sales tax exemption applies to single articles, and is not based on the overall cost of everything you buy. For example, you can buy three shirts $25 each and a pair of pants for $50 and you will not be charged the sales tax, even though the total is $125. Because each item is less than $100, the exemption is applied.
However, if you buy a pair of shoes for $120, you will have to pay the sales tax on the full amount of the purchase.
When you take advantage of a sale that allows you to buy one item and get another for a reduced price, the holiday exemption applies only to the items costing less than $100. For example, a store may offer a pair of jeans for $120 and you can get a second pair for half price, or $60. The sales tax exemption will apply only to the second pair.
The exemption applies to all sales taxes, not just state sales taxes. That means exempt items are free of all city, county and local sales taxes.
All retailers have to participate. Articles cannot be separated in order to lower their price under the $100 and $50 thresholds. Men’s suits and pairs of shoes, which normally are sold as one unit, cannot be split into separate purchases.
Fundraiser Drive Underway For Lady Rattler Championship Rings
By Jonathan W. Gipson, Magazine Schools Media Relations
MAGAZINE – It was, perhaps, a sign of things to come.
It was still a couple of weeks before the end of basketball season, but several Magazine Lady Rattlers switched their focus, if for only a day, to compete in the Arkansas Track Coaches Association’s State Indoor Track and Field Championships at the University of Arkansas’ Randal Tyson Track Center.
That’s not anything uncommon. In fact, for small school student-athletes, it’s the norm, especially for this particular group of Lady Rattlers who had long earned the reputation of being competitors with strong work ethics and “teamwork makes the dream work” attitudes.
The ATCA State Indoor Track and Field Championship Meet is a marathon of a day for competitors – events begin mid-morning and continue until champions are crowned late in the evening – but as fans, competitors and coaches anxiously watched as team names rose and fell throughout the day, one team became a constant at the top.
The Lady Rattlers won the Class 1A/2A Division by a gaudy 48 points over the Friendship Academy Southeast Lady Warriors, earning their first state indoor track and field championship and, at that time, their second state championship overall in the sport of track and field.
Fast forward nearly three months, and after enduring a nearly week-long delay because of the aftereffect of rainy and stormy weather and a change of venue (from Gurdon to Clinton), the Lady Rattlers were again hoisting state championship hardware, beating the Mineral Springs Lady Hornets by 26.5 points to win the Class 1A State Outdoor Track and Field Championship.
It’s been more than two months now since the end of the track and field season, during which the Lady Rattlers upped their total state track and field championships to three (one indoor state title in 2025 and two outdoor state titles in 2014 and 2025). Still, the magnitude of this incredible feat of winning two state championships and running the table, so to speak, in the sport of senior high girls track and field will resonate through the halls of history for decades to come at Magazine High School.
While greatness, it’s often said, is never forgotten, state championship rings serve as a physical reminder of a student-athlete’s accomplishments and the sacrifices they made to achieve greatness.
As is customary after winning state championships, the Magazine senior girls track and field program is looking to provide state championship rings for its student-athletes and is currently conducting a fundraising drive to help purchase state championship rings to commemorate the 2025 Class 1A/2A State Indoor Track and Field Championship and the Class 1A State Outdoor Track and Field Championship.
Anyone wishing to contribute to this fundraising effort may do so in a variety of ways. Cash or check donations may be made in person at the Magazine Schools Administration Building located at 485 East Priddy Street in Magazine. Donations may be mailed to Magazine Schools at 485 East Priddy Street, Magazine, AR 72943, but make reference to the track and field championship ring fundraiser with the donation. Also, donations may be made online by visiting the Rattler Store on the Magazine Schools website (www.magazinek12.com) and by clicking the following link: https://osp.osmsinc.com/MagazineAR/BVModules/CategoryTemplates/Detailed%20List%20with%20Properties/Category.aspx?categoryid=YJ008.
For more information, please contact Magazine track and field/cross country coach Randy Bryan at 1-866-900-2001 or via email at randy.bryan@magazinek12.com.
