Clothing tax exemption may be scrapped in Wayne County

A longtime exemption on sales tax for clothing and shoe sales of up to $120 could be gone in Wayne County soon.

The Board of Supervisors will consider a resolution at its meeting Tuesday morning that would eliminate the 16-year-old exemption.

County Administrator Rick House said the resolution moved by a 5-0 vote through the supervisors’ Finance Committee for consideration before the full board, and that there will “most assuredly” be debate on the proposal.

The removal of the sales tax exemption was debated during a special session in October. At the meeting, some supervisors argued the exemption was an incentive for people to shop at Wayne County retailers because no other counties in the region offered the tax discount.

“The argument (for keeping) is that we need to maintain the exemption to encourage them to shop here,” House said.