Competition for sales tax free weekend

ATLANTA - Georgia&#39;s upcoming sales tax holiday may draw more shoppers than the first attempt, but this time it has competition -- North and South Carolina&#39;s tax-free days fall the same weekend. <br> <br> Friday and Saturday will be Georgia&#39;s second foray into popular sales-tax waivers for clothing, computers and school supplies. The first tax break came Easter weekend, just a month after lawmakers approved the idea. <br> <br> Retailers are hoping the upcoming days will spike sales even more than the first weekend, when stores had only a few weeks to advertise the tax waiver and shoppers were confused about what was exempt. Plus, retailers say, August is prime back-to-school shopping time. <br> <br> Steve McWilliams, president of the Georgia Retail Association, said turnout should be better this time. The waiver now includes children&#39;s books, which weren&#39;t exempt last time. <br> <br> McWilliams said, ``We&#39;re anticipating enormous traffic flows.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> But one of the major selling points of the sales tax holidays -- that shoppers drive from neighboring states to take advantage of them -- may not hold true this time. <br> <br> North and South Carolina have similar tax waivers this weekend, and while Florida suspended its tax holiday this year because of state revenue problems, Florida could revive it next summer. <br> <br> Retailers in South Carolina were hoping Georgians still would cross the border to shop there, touting their waivers as bigger, with fewer exceptions. <br> <br> The president of the South Carolina Merchants&#39; Association, Jim Hatchell, said ``We&#39;ve got a better mousetrap.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> In Georgia, clothes are tax exempt only if they cost less than $100. In South Carolina, Hatchell said, ``You can buy all the clothes you can put in a truck and haul &#39;em off.&#39;&#39;