Associated Press - July 30, 2010 5:34 AM ET

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Shoppers, get ready. Louisiana's annual sales tax holiday is next week.

On Aug. 6-7, most retail purchases will be exempt from the 4% state sales tax. The exemption applies to the first $2,500 of the cost of most items that aren't for business use.

The sales tax break doesn't apply, however, to local taxes collected by parishes, towns and other taxing entities.

Items that aren't eligible for the tax break include vehicles, hotel rooms, most meals and laundry services, according to the state revenue department.

More information is online at http://www.revenue.louisiana.gov/taxholiday.

By law, the sales tax holiday is on the first Friday and Saturday every August.

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