NC families may spend $800+ on school supplies. Will they have to pay sales tax?
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- NC families pay sales tax on school supplies because the state has no tax-free weekend.
- Families in the South could pay more than $800 on back-to-school shopping this year.
- WakeEd Partnership operates Tools4Schools to provide free classroom supplies to teachers.
It seems like the school year just ended, but already, Triangle communities are getting ready to go back to school.
This year, families across the country expect to spend an average of $922, according to PwC’s 2026 U.S. consumer poll on back-to-school shopping. That includes clothing and shoes, technology, equipment for after-school activities, school supplies, books and educational materials, and other one-time purchases.
And nearly half, 47%, plan to spend more than they did a year ago.
Families in the South, including North Carolina, expect to spend slightly less than the national average — $832, the poll found.
But unlike some of its neighbors in the South, namely South Carolina and Virginia, North Carolina does not have a sales tax holiday.
That means when families here are shopping for clothing, school supplies, technology and other items needed for the forthcoming school year, they’ll also be paying sales tax — at least 4.75%, but often more, depending on location. For example, it’s 7.25% in Wake County, and 7.5% in Durham County.
North Carolina hasn’t had a sales tax holiday since 2013. That year, the legislature ended the sales tax holiday as part of a reform package that lowered personal and corporate income taxes. The tax-free weekend might have benefited families, but it cost the state — to the tune of $13.6 million in lost tax revenue in 2012, the Department of Revenue estimated.
In 2025, the state House proposed restoring the back-to-school sales tax holiday in its budget, but that didn’t make it into the final budget, which was finally signed into law by Gov. Josh Stein two weeks ago.
Tools4Schools gives teachers free classroom supplies
Inflation may have cooled in June, but prices for expenses such as gas, clothing and food are still higher than they were a year ago.
And these high costs aren’t just affecting parents who need to provide school supplies for their kids.
Educators are dealing with the same expenses, said Keith Poston, president of WakeEd Partnership, a nonprofit that supports the Wake County Public Schools community.
“Teachers are going to make sure that every student has what they need,” Poston said. “They will always go above and beyond to help their students, including spending money out of their own household budget to make sure that that student has the classroom supplies they need, that they have a backpack, that they have a winter coat.”
Since 2022, Wake County teachers have been able to get free classroom supplies through WakeEd Partnership’s Tools4Schools. The “store” debuted in 2022 to help close the gap that leaves educators spending hundreds of dollars of their own money on classroom supplies.
“We just don’t think teachers should have to choose between buying something for their own family and buying supplies for the classroom,” Poston said.
Reinstating the sales tax holiday would not just help families, Poston said. It would also help WakeEd Partnership provide more supplies for teachers.
The nonprofit raises money to purchase supplies in bulk and get a better deal.
“I can imagine that we would wait until the sales-tax holiday time to put in some big orders so that we could save some money,” Poston said.
How to donate to Tools4Schools
The Tools4Schools community supply drive launched July 7 and continues through Aug. 21.
Poston said he estimates about 6,000 teachers will shop for free classroom supplies at Tools4Schools this year.
“What I’ve seen is that the demand continues to grow,” he said. “In fact, we really could be open more than we are — I mean, as far as hours and days — if we had the supply to do it.”
If you want to support the campaign, there are several ways:
- Donate new school supplies at any Wake County Staples stores, participating YMCA branch or public collection site listed at wakeed.org/supply-drive
- Host a workplace, neighborhood or community supply drive
- Contribute financially (via the WakeEd website) to support bulk purchases of teachers’ most-requested supplies
- Purchase items directly from the Tools4Schools Amazon Wish List, linked on the WakeEd website
