WV Open for Business In August 2006 the Commonwealth of Virginia created a tax free back to school shopping weekend on Aug. 4th-6th. During the sales tax holiday, VA retailers did not charge the 5 percent retail sales tax on purchases of school supplies costing $20 or less per item, or clothing, including footwear, priced at $100 or less per article. Included as part of the guidelines was an all-inclusive list of school supplies eligible for the sales-tax exemption and a representative list of clothing eligible for the exemption. All retailers who sold the exempt items had to participate in the holiday. This newly adopted holiday cost WV retailers hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost business, especially retailers whose stores are within close proximity to the Virginia border. In 2004 the State of WV held its LAST Back to School Tax Free Holiday much to the dismay of WV families & retailers. This petition is to request that the Governor of West Virginia reinstate the Back to School Tax Free Shopping Weekend as listed below in August 2007. Items covered: Clothing, footwear and school supplies costing less than $100 per article without paying West Virginia consumers sales and use taxes. Also, consumers can buy computers costing less than $750 and computer accessories costing less than $100 without paying those taxes. By signing this petition you will be a vital voice in seeing the state of West Virginia reinstate their Back to School tax free shopping - Thank you for your help!