This weekend is the first "tax-free" shopping weekend of 2008 in Tennessee.
In 2006, the state legislature decided to hold two "tax-free" weekends to help alleviate the sales tax burden on Tennessee's consumers. Tennessee has the highest state sales tax in the continental United States (9.25-9.75%), and the state estimates that shoppers all over the state will see a sales-tax savings of approximately $10 million over the three-day weekend. Eligible items include clothing ($100 and less per item), school and art supplies ($100 and less per item) and computers ($1500 and less per bundled package). If you want to see the list of exempt items, click
here.(Confused? Don't even get me started on the food/non-food taxable rates!)
Here's the interesting thing: The list of tax-exempt items is pretty interesting. The sales-tax holiday, from my understanding, was originally meant to relieve parents of high sales tax on school clothes and supplies each year. Because I owned a retail establishment until May of last year, I received the list of taxable and exempt items, and I found it pretty interesting. For example, in 2006, paints , clay and crayons (all conceivably school supplies) were taxable, while bridal gowns, diapers and jogging apparel were tax-exempt. Paper was exempt because it is a school supply. Last year the legislature included art supplies since both elementary and high school kids use them in classes. Bridal gowns (and jogging and aerobic clothing as well as thongs and tuxedos) are still exempt (although try to find a gown or tux under $100 these days!).
A lot of confusion reigned in my store, which was a paper arts store. Since I sold a number of exempt items (scissors, adhesives, color pencils), I could not charge tax on them even though most of the customers were going to use them for personal use. I also sold some items that were not exempt in 2006 but exempt in 2007 (clay and acrylic paints). Worse, I sold paper of all kinds - color paper and cardstock (exempt), writing paper (exempt) and scrapbook paper (who knows?). A great guy in the department of revenue finally told me just to exempt all the paper and not worry about it. PHEW!
For the past two years, I didn't really get to take advantage of the sales tax holiday, but this year, I bought something great. . . . .But, that's a story for next week!
Tomorrow: Music City Marathon
The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (above) is the second oldest Catholic church in Nashville. Built in 1859 to serve the German families settling in the area north of downtown Nashville, the Assumption Church was occupied by Union forces during the Civil War. Over the years, it has been renovated and enlarged. For more information about The Assumption Church and to see photos of the altar, click here.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find much information about this church, although I did read that, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Methodists in the north Nashville area were involved in social causes, assisting immigrants and low-income families in a number of different ways.
This is one of the older homes in Germantown. I thought you might like to compare it to the newer homes that I showed you last week.
Yesterday morning, 30,714 runners and walkers participated in the Music City Marathon in Nashville. Of those, 5,652 ran the full marathon, while the remaining 25,000+ did the half marathon. The runners started the race in "corrals," meaning they were grouped with other runners and all members
of a particular corral started at the same time. There were 32 corrals, and the last ones started the race over an hour after the elite runners (in the first corral) began. The winner of the half marathon ran it in just over one hour, and the winners of the marathon ran the race in 2 hours 14 minutes (men) and 2 hours 30 minutes (women).
This weekend is the first "tax-free" shopping weekend of 2008 in Tennessee.
Although I said I was going to post photos of the Germantown churches today, I decided to show a few more of the homes in the area. The two in the main photo are, I believe, newer homes built to fit the architecture of the neighborhood. The homes in the two smaller photos at left and right are, of course, older homes.
1995, Monell's serves its food "communal" style. In other words, when you go, they seat you at a table with other diners, and the staff brings out plates and bowls of food. There are 2 or 3 meats, a few salads, 4 or 5 vegetables, drinks and desserts. The times that I went, the food was basically southern comfort food: fried chicken, squash, potatoes, corn, etc. It's pretty good, although the communal dining does tend to scare some people off the first time they go. You can read a little more about them by clicking here.
couldn't find any information on it, so I don't know if it's the church rectory or what. The yard to the left of the house is a large, gravel parking lot, so that leads me to wonder if the church owns it. However, I don't know.
Just north of downtown and Bicentennial Mall, Historic Germantown is a 20-square block area that is home to a variety of homes and businesses. Originally part of a land grant given to James McGavock for his during the Revolutionary War, Germantown is thriving again today due to the diligence of area residents. The neighborhood association dedicates itself to preserving the history and charm of the area, and new building (homes and businesses) maintain the architecture of the original area.
another City Daily Photo Blogger. We were in Las Vegas, so I got to meet up with Mo of Another Las Vegas Daily Photo. We had met when I was there in January, but we both forgot our cameras that time. Last week, I had my small camera with me so my husband could record our meeting. We look pretty serious in the photo above, but my husband did have us laughing at his jokes (left).
I mentioned redbuds the other day, and I thought I would post a photo of the drive at the northside of Bicentennial Mall (above). The redbuds provide a beautiful entrance to the park. What I particularly like about them is that they seem to be growing right on the branches and/or trunk (photo right). Redbuds seem to grow wild here, which makes roadsides very pretty during spring.
Except for a few drops, this water fountain wasn't spewing too much water. I guess it was playing April Fools jokes on the kid!!
