(AUSTIN) — Great news for back-to-school shoppers. For the first time since it began in 1999, the annual August sales tax holiday will include many school supplies.

“A lot of families look forward to saving their hard earned money during the sales tax holiday weekend,” Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said. “Now they can make their back-to-school budgets stretch even further because more than two dozen school supply items will be tax-free.”

House Bill 1801 identifies school supplies priced less than $100 that will be exempt from state and local sales tax for the tax-free weekend. Pens, crayons, calculators, notebooks, rulers, scissors and lunch boxes are a few of the items on the list. The full list can be found below.

These items are in addition to school backpacks and most clothing and shoes priced less than $100 that are already tax-free the weekend of Aug. 21–23.

The Comptroller’s office is sending information to retailers about implementing the expanded sales tax holiday.

TAX-FREE SCHOOL SUPPLIES
Binders
Lunch Boxes
Book bags
Markers
Calculators
Notebooks
Cellophane tape
Paper (loose leaf ruled notebook paper, copy paper, graph paper, tracing paper, manila paper, colored paper, poster board, and construction paper)
Blackboard chalk
Pencil boxes and other school supply boxes
Compasses
Pencil sharpeners
Composition books
Pencils
Crayons
Pens
Erasers
Protractors
Folders (expandable, pocket, plastic, and manila)
Rulers
Glue, paste, and paste sticks
Scissors
Highlighters
Writing tablets
Index cards
Index card boxes
Legal pads

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