By JOYANNA LOVE/Senior Staff Writer

Alabama’s back-to-school sales tax holiday is bringing savings to shoppers a little earlier this year.

The tax-free weekend will be held July 21 to July 23 instead of the traditional August date.

Alabama’s 4 percent sales tax will not be charged on books, school supplies, computers, computer software and clothing. However, there are monetary limits on the tax-free items. Clothing must be $100 or less per item. Computers and computer software must be $750 or less. School supplies must be $50 or less per item. Books must be $30 or less per book.

Some local governments have also chosen to waive the local sales tax for this weekend.

Clanton and Thorsby governments have passed resolutions to approve no local sales tax on these days, which will give shoppers an additional 3 percent worth of savings.

“I think it’s good for families who have multiple children,” Clanton city clerk Debbie Orange said of the sales tax holiday.

Local sales tax will still be charged on these items throughout Chilton County, Jemison and Maplesville. Jemison’s sales tax rate is 4 percent, while Maplesville has a 3 percent sales tax rate. The only sales tax collected in the portions of the county outside a town or municipality is for education.

For more information on the holiday and a full list of tax-exempt items, visit www.revenue.alabama.gov/salestax.

Sales tax revenues for Clanton have grown in recent years. Orange said the city is receiving more sales tax than it ever has. This increase has come from an increase in sales, not an increase in the tax rate.