Upcoming Tax Holiday Encourages Hurricane Preparation

An upcoming tax holiday will help Virginians prepare for hurricane season, according to the Virginia Department of Taxation.

No sales tax will be collected on qualifying items (found here) in Virginia from Friday to next Thursday — the week leading up to the official start of hurricane season, which is June 1.

Generally, those items would be useful in the event of a severe storm — generators and power cables that cost less than $1,000, for example.

Most of the items, though, must be under $60 to qualify for the sales tax holiday. Many of them have uses outside of hurricane preparation, including duct tape, fire extinguishers, first aid kits and cell phone chargers.

The sales tax holiday will cost the state around $2.6 million, according to the Washington Examiner. The tax rate is generally 5 percent of an item's cost.

Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of the season, flirted with southern coastal states and caused brief closures in the past week, but generally did little more than stir up fishing along the coasts of the Carolinas, according to the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer.

For more information, see these hurricane preparedness tips from Arlington County.