With her Hannah Montana backpack filled with pencils, crayons, markers, notebook paper and scissors, Marissa Hurtado is ready to enter the first grade at Gonzales Community School.

"I can't wait to start school," Hurtado, 7, said. "I got new clothes and look, I even got new shoes."

Shirley Hurtado said she waited to purchase her daughter's back-to-school items to take advantage of this weekend's tax-free holiday.

"It helped that I got the rebate," she said. "If I didn't have it, it would have been hard to get stuff for her."

Hurtado said she spent $140 on her daughter's back-to-school shopping. The tax-free weekend started Friday and runs through Sunday.

Under the law, there will be no gross-receipts tax on certain clothing and shoes up to $100. Also tax-exempt are computers costing $1,000 or less and some computer hardware of $500 or less, such as modems, monitors and printers. Paper for printers also is tax-free.

School supplies that cost up to $15 each or backpacks costing up to $100 are tax-exempt.

Cellphones, iPods, MP3 players and watches remain subject to taxation.

Electronic tablets that perform computer capabilities — such as iPads — are not taxed.

Soccer and football shoes with cleats will be taxed. But there will be no tax on running shoes without cleats.

People with no back-to-school needs took advantage, too.

"I needed some new tennis shoes, and my wife needed some new clothes for around the house," said Juan Villareal of Española. "My daughter was off work, so she bought my grandkids new shoes and clothes for school. We really took advantage of today."

Still, many families were out with their back-to-school checklists.

Friday, retailers at the DeVargas Center mall, the Santa Fe Place mall, Walmart and Baillio's reported strong traffic and brisk sales, and they expect crowds to pick up throughout the weekend.

Sarah Franco, sales manager at Victoria's Secret at Santa Fe Place, said the tax-free weekend brings some extra business, but Christmas or Labor Day remain its busiest weekends.

"It's not like one of our big holidays," she said. "I think it's because a lot of people don't realize that panties and bras are tax-free."

Friday, Lily Anaya of Los Alamos finished her daughter's back-to-school shopping, although she did most of it last weekend, she said.

"I thought it would have been so crowded and crazy this weekend, so we did a lot of our shopping last weekend," Anaya said. "The stores are having really good sales, I should've waited."

She plans to spend $600 between her two daughters, she said.

Ann Mascaranes of Santa Fe said she is spending a lot less on her daughters' back-to-school items than in previous years.

"We are downsizing, but we are finding it helpful that we don't have to pay taxes," she said. "I'll probably spend around $100 on each for clothes and about $100 total for supplies. So it really helps."

Her oldest daughter, Meghan, is a sophomore at Eastern New Mexico University and is shopping for herself for the first time.

"I know I can't spend a lot so I waited until this weekend," she said. "Even if they didn't have this tax-free day I would still buy clothes, just not as much."

Contact Shaun Griswold at 986-3052 or e-mail sgriswold@sfnewmexican.com



TAX-FREE ITEMS

Aerobic clothing

Baby clothes

Diapers

Bowling shirts

Cowboy boots

Golf clothing

Hats (cowboy and baseball caps)

Lingerie

Jeans

Computer's up to $1,000

E-Readers with computing functions

Backpacks

Crayons

Pencils

Pens

Notebooks



TAXED ITEMS

Ballet shoes

Blankets

Bowling shoes

Briefcases

Cosmetics

Fanny packs

Jewelry

Shoes with cleats

Purses

Computer scanners

Zip drives

Computer software

E-Readers with Internet access only

Backpacks for hiking

Digital cameras



For a complete listing, visit www.tax.newmexico.gov/Pages/TRD-Homepage.aspx