Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver yesterday said there were clearly problems publicizing this week’s downtown sales-tax-free holiday – and he hopes officials do a better job so retailers won’t ignore the program next month.
Silver (D-Manhattan) spoke after a Post report revealed a spate of restaurants and stores were charging the 8.25 percent sales tax despite a three-day tax holiday that ended Tuesday and was intended to rejuvenate downtown’s economy.
“That’s unfortunate. Part of it is the job of the [state] Tax Department to get out the information,” said Silver, who represents the Lower East Side and pushed for this summer’s three sales tax-free periods. The remaining periods are in July and August.
“I tried to get out as much information as I could. We tried to promote it with public-service announcements. Hopefully, before the next period … [officials involved] will do a better publicity campaign.”
Silver said members of his office went door-to-door downtown to make sure merchants new about the sales-tax reprieve.
“This one was rather short notice,” Silver said, adding, “We have another four weeks until the next three-day period [July 9 to July 11] and we would hope to do a better job.”
State Tax Department spokesman Mark Carey said his agency sent out notices to every downtown store and wasn’t sure what more could have been done.
Several merchants, including some who were honoring the tax-free period, said they learned of the holiday only through the media.
Meanwhile, owners of a McDonald’s and a Burger King where sales tax was charged apologized profusely, saying it was a misunderstanding and would be fixed.