It's like Christmas in July, said Diane Charmineak, the assistant manager of Office Depot on Walton Way Extension, explaining the impact of Georgia's sales tax holiday on local businesses.

Today is the start of the four-day sales tax holiday, the fourth in the same number of years, meant to fuel back-to-school spending by exempting certain items from state and local sales taxes. Back-to-school purchases, though, aren't limited to the traditional pen and paper and can include an array of items from computers to corsets.

What is and isn't exempt from sales tax can be found on exhaustive lists at www.gatax.org, but generally exempt items are school supplies, clothing and computer items, and the exemption is limited to nonrecreational and nonbusiness purchases. Despite that, the list includes a spackling of just about everything - lingerie, roller skates, ski suits and hunting vests. Only books on a school's approved reading list are exempt.

The list is "identical" to last year's, said Charles Willey, the spokesman for the Georgia Department of Revenue. The holiday is meant to help families getting children ready for school, but also to drive traffic into stores.

"It's open to everyone, not just those with children," Mr. Willey said.

Office Depot extended its hours for the holiday, Ms. Charmineak said. Waves of shoppers eager to save money hit the store first thing in the morning.

Last year, the store tripled its regular business and sold 117 computers, she said.

Clothing and footwear are exempt up to $100 per item, with no limit on the number of items that can be purchased.

Personal computers and accessories are exempt up to $1,500 per transaction, including monitors, computer base units, keyboards, handheld computers, printers, modems, nonrecreational software and peripheral devices.

Among the items not exempt are personal digital assistants with voice communication, cell phones, digital cameras, furniture and anything intended primarily for recreational use.

School supplies are restricted to items that are $20 or less, but there is no limit to the number of items that can be purchased.

The state is projecting that the sales tax holiday will turn into an estimated $10.38 million savings in state sales tax and $6.5 million in savings in local sales tax, according to Heather Hedrick, press secretary for Gov. Sonny Perdue. Those figures are up from last year, when the holiday produced a $7.1 million savings in state taxes and $6 million in local tax savings.

The Georgia sales tax holiday officially began at 12:01 a.m. today and will continue through midnight Sunday.

The South Carolina sales tax holiday starts at 12:01 a.m. Aug. 5 and ends at midnight Aug. 7.

Reach Greg Gelpi at (706) 828-3851 or greg.gelpi@augustachronicle.com.

On the Net:

http://www.etax.dor.ga.gov/salestaxholiday/index.shtml