Proactive or Reactive? An Analysis of Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday Legislation

Abstract

Disasters have occurred in the United States since our inception. Although we cannot know when or how the next disaster will occur, we can take measures to generally prepare for the effects of disasters. One of these measures is individual preparedness. Individuals may purchase power generators for use in the event of long-term power outages or standard AA batteries and a flashlight for short-term power outages. A struggle for both emergency managers and elected officials is convincing individuals that they should take proactive steps to prepare for the eventuality of a disaster. One policy implemented by five states has been Emergency or Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax Holidays. These states have identified a number of items deemed necessary for disaster preparedness and deemed a particular weekend each year as the “sales tax holiday.” This means that individuals can purchase the goods identified by the state without paying a state sales tax during that period. The basic thought is that by removing the tax and drawing attention to preparedness, individuals may be more likely to purchase these goods and become more prepared for disaster. In this paper, I seek to understand why these sales tax holidays were enacted in these states. Were they done during a policy window after a major disaster as a reactive measure, or were they done prior to a major event as a proactive measure? An analysis of legislative policies in each state, along with an examination of presidentially declared disasters, will be used to explore these questions.