Planning a big appliance purchase soon? If so, you may want to wait a few more weeks - unbeknownst to most Texans, the state has declared Saturday, May 24 through Monday, May 26 (Memorial Day) an “Energy Star Sales Tax Holiday”. During this time, no sales tax will be collected on purchases of air conditioners (room units as well as central units, but must be priced under $6,000), clothes washers, ceiling fans, dehumidifiers, dishwashers, light bulbs, programmable thermostats or refrigerators (priced under $2,000) as long as the have the Energy Star logo, indicating they use less energy than comparable non-Energy-Star products.

This means Memorial Day weekend will be a great time to swap out a few of the incandescent light bulbs in your home that you use the most with Energy Star rated compact fluorescent bulbs, which, on average, last 10 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs and use 75% less electricity. If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an Energy Star rated bulb, the US would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year and would eliminate more than $600 million in annual energy costs.

I’m excited to see the state encouraging consumers to purchase Energy Star rated appliances - in my opinion, this is one of the more creative, inventive responses to rising oil prices and our dependence on foreign oil that I have seen. What do you think? Share your opinions about this Sales Tax Holiday in this topic in the Forney Discussion Forum.

For more information about the Energy Star Sales Tax Holiday, see this page on the Comptroller’s website.

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