<p>Georgia retailers were making sure they were stocked, staffed and prepared for one of their busiest weekends of the year as back-to-school shoppers are expected to take advantage of the state's four-day sales tax holiday.</p><p>From Thursday to Sunday, sales taxes will be exempt on clothing and footwear items that cost less than $100 an item as well as school supplies of up to $20 an item. Computers, modems, printers, speakers and non-recreational software are also free of the sales tax if they cost less than $1,500 per transaction.</p><p>"We have more people scheduled, higher projections, lots of stock," said Amanda Jones, an Abercrombie & Fitch manager-in-training. "It will be crazy, but we'll have a lot of people working, so we'll be fine."</p><p>Many retailers are also tacking on additional sales or offering coupons for all items _ regardless of whether they qualify for the tax break. Some say the tax holiday was the second busiest shopping weekend in 2003, behind only the weekend after Thanksgiving.</p><p>"We want to make sure everything we own is on the floor and ready to sell," said Patricia Powell, manager of the J.C. Penney's at North Point Mall in Alpharetta.</p><p>While retailers and consumers don't have to be convinced of the holiday's benefits, it does not come without its drawbacks. Last year, the four-day span cost state and local governments more than $15 million in lost revenues, and 2004 estimates from the state Department of Revenue are roughly the same.</p><p>The state's sales tax is four cents on every dollar spent, and local sales taxes vary by county, ranging from one to three cents per dollar. During the tax holiday, which will end at midnight on Sunday, anyone who buys a $1,500 computer will save $60 on state sales tax and up to an additional $45 depending on county rates.</p><p>The state's continuing budget crunch made this year's sales tax holiday a particularly tough sell to the state Legislature.</p><p>"It's probably the hardest we've ever lobbied," said John Heavener, president of the Georgia Retail Association. "I was told by the people on the hill that they got more calls this year than in the past."</p><p>Supporters of the holiday say the state also benefits from the increased sales of non-exempt items, like most home supplies.</p><p>"What a lot of people don't understand is if a family has $20,000 a year to spend, the more of that money that you can get in your state, and the faster you can get it in your state, the better off the state is," said state Rep. Ron Borders, a Valdosta Democrat who sponsored the legislation this year to continue the holiday.</p><p>To attract that spending, retailers like Vision Computer are shaving off the cost of their products priced above the holiday's $1,500 computer threshold.</p><p>"We don't have any product that is at $1,550, because we planned in advance," said Tarun Bhakta, president of the Norcross company. He reported that sales were already busy Wednesday, as customers were ordering computers in advance to avoid the weekend crush.</p><p>Georgia is among a dozen states with sales tax holidays. Spurred in part by cross-border shopping, a 9-day sales tax holiday is underway again in Florida after a two-year hiatus.</p><p>"I will tell you that last year the sad thing was that North Florida was going to South Georgia," said Rick McAllister, the president and CEO of the Florida Retail Federation.</p><p>Despite the revival of Florida's holiday, which also runs to Sunday, McAllister still he expects some Floridians to cross the border and take advantage of the sales in Georgia.</p>
