Did you know that retailers bring in as much as 40% of their annual profits just in December? That means they could have an outstanding year but still fail if the holiday doesn’t bring consumer traffic, and that’s the was very fear among retailers. As a result, retailers pulled all stops to compete for your business, and America was ready.

Early reports show that this may shape up to be one heck of a December, as sales are already up 7% over last year. That’s great news for retailers, great news for consumer confidence, and great news for the economy at large.

There are incredible deals out there, and now may be the time to make those big purchases you’ve been putting off.

I, for one, have been considering purchasing a new laptop for some time. I’m always reluctant to buy technology because it seems as soon as you buy something it is already out of date. However, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to take advantage of the 12-hour sale that HP was running with Microsoft Live SearchCashback.

That sale got me a top of the line laptop with 40% cash back from Microsoft, plus an additional $270 cash instant rebates from HP, and a number of free upgrades. I thought it was too good to be true until I saw my order confirmation.

That’s just one example. There are huge discounts all around and probably more to come as companies need to pull in as much cash as possible. But there’s another reason you might consider spending now. Tax incentives.

If you own a small business or have a home office, you can sweeten your deals by not only buying stuff cheap, but reducing your tax bill as well. Come April you may be happy you spent the money when you did.

If you’ve come across any other great buys, leave a comment here….