Commissioner Miller Encourages Water Savings With Sales Tax Holiday (5/24/2016)

The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts announced the first annual sales tax holiday for water-efficient products will be Saturday, May 28 through Monday, May 30. Certain water-efficient and water-conserving products join the annual ENERGY STAR sales tax holiday, which has been in place since 2010.

The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) encourages all Texans to take advantage of this new offer as conserving water and reducing water usage is important to our state’s future viability and economic outlook. One way residents can reduce outdoor water use is to plant drought-tolerant varieties of flowers, shrubs and trees that have been tested against Texas’ tough conditions. These plants are easily identified by their Texas Superstar® tag.

“Water is one of our most precious resources for all Texans, whether they’re rural or urban or anywhere in between,” Texas Agriculture Commission Sid Miller said. “We all need to do our part to conserve water where we can, and planting Texas Superstar plants is a good start no matter where you live in our great state.”

Texas Superstar® plants are extensively researched by the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension and Research Services before becoming eligible to receive the Superstar designation. These plants must perform reliably in terms of growth, blooming and water needs while exposed to the wide variety of conditions found across the state. Once a variety has been studied and deemed acceptable, it is added to the official Superstar list and then can be marketed as a Texas Superstar®.

For a full list of eligible water-saving products, please visit the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts’ website here. To learn more about Texas Superstar plant varieties, click here, and for a full list of retailers, please visit TDA’s GO TEXAN website here.