This article originally appeared in the Charlotte Observer Attention, North Carolina shoppers: The back-to-school sales tax holiday weekend, around for more than a decade, is ending. This coming weekend, Aug. 2-4, is the final year in North Carolina for the tax holiday, which provides shoppers with discounts on everything from computers to backpacks to clothing. There’s no change to South Carolina’s sales tax holiday, which is also the same weekend. North Carolina’s change comes as part of a major tax reform measure signed into law last week by Gov. Pat McCrory. The tax overhaul includes a provision to eliminate the state’s back-to-school, tax-free weekend beginning in 2014. Also going away next year is the annual tax holiday for Energy Star-rated appliances. North Carolina lawmakers and opponents of the sales tax holiday said the state lost millions on the weekend. North Carolina lost an estimated $13.6 million in tax revenue during last year’s sales tax holiday, according to the N.C. Department of Revenue. But that state revenue loss has been shoppers’ gain. Retailers have been big fans of the tax holiday since it was launched in 2002. For some retailers, the annual event is the second-most profitable weekend of the year …
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