It's almost time for school to start and parents are anticipating the tax-free weekend in Alabama. Rosemary Elebash, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said Alabama's upcoming sales tax holiday on clothing, computers, and footwear could provide a much-needed lift to many small stores and businesses. "It's been a lackluster summer for a lot of small businesses," Elebash said. "The sales-tax holiday should help people get fired up and in the mood to spend." The latest NFIB Small Business Optimism Index, released July 12, shows that small-business confidence improved by only a fraction of one percent in June. To learn more about Alabama's sales tax holiday, visit the Department of Revenue's website at http://revenue.alabama.gov/salestax/SalesTaxHol.cfm.