"You people are killing me!" (sales tax, again)

[sixums]

What a complete twat. It's a half hour drive to Nashua, most people I know come here anyway because there's no tax.

I don't understand how he can be so oblivious, or so entitled. There's a reason we call it Taxachusetts, people. You're gonna pay it either way.

[EricKei]

What the hell is sales tax? Is it VAT (value added tax..on all clothing leisure and technical purchases except for children's shoes?).

Same basic concept. As you can see, it varies wildly by state. Some have none at all, many states have both State Tax plus Local or City or County tax all combined into one, some states charge it on everything (as they do in my state), some exempt certain foods and other items, etc.

In the US, it is extremely UNcommon to see prices listed with the sales tax already included. Generally, only smaller businesses do it, and they set their "base" prices such that it will come out to an easy-to-make change for amount (such as $2 or $2.50) when tax is included.

The way taxes are set up here, businesses need to report their Gross sales *without* tax included to determine what gets sent to the government. Also, if there is a sale or coupon for, say, 10% off, it gets calculated based on the PRE-tax price, which could be another reason.

[Dave1982]

Also, if there is a sale or coupon for, say, 10% off, it gets calculated based on the PRE-tax price, which could be another reason.

And that causes NO shortage of problems.

SC: But the total is over $75! The coupon says $10 off a purchase of $75 or more!

Me: Yes, but that does NOT include tax. Your PRETAX amount is $72.xx.

SC: NO! It's OVER $75!



Again (at least in Mass), it's because of Department of Revenue regulations that we can't dick around with sales tax, and why coupons say "does not include sales tax.:

It is unlawful for a vendor to advertise or state to the public or any customer, directly or indirectly, that the sales tax, or any part of it, will be assumed or absorbed by the vendor, or that it will not be added to the selling price or that it will be refunded in whole or in part.

[corwin02]

I live in California. In the County where I live sales tax is 9.75%. I have to go to the next county to get a sales tax of 8.75% when I want to buy something big. That 1% makes a difference!

Tell that guy to come CA and then he'll have something to complain about.

Come to The Netherlands and enjoy the wonderfull sales tax of 19% (yeah no kidding) , and if you buy a car add an additional 'usage tax' of about 25%
Wonder what mister wondefull has to say about that

[Whiskey]

I live in California. In the County where I live sales tax is 9.75%. I have to go to the next county to get a sales tax of 8.75% when I want to buy something big. That 1% makes a difference!

Tell that guy to come CA and then he'll have something to complain about.

AMEN! I live in CA too and tax is the same. I don't know about you guys, but I've been paying tax on every taxable item all my life. Does he complain everytime he gets charged tax? Is it a hobby? A sport maybe? Are there points and a trophy?

[protege]

He'd love it here in Pennsylvania...the land of red tape and taxes

Seriously, every county is free to set their own sales tax. Locally, Allegheny County (basically Pittsburgh) is at 7%, but I think the surrounding counties are either at 5 or 6%. Still, there's talk of it going up to 8 or even 10%. For those who don't know, our sales tax was increased not long ago to build new stadiums for the Pirates and Steelers--for years, it was always 6% inside my county, and lower outside. As for the rest of the state, I really have no idea about it

But, if the guy *really* wants to bitch...he should buy real estate here sometime. The taxes involved are truly annoying

[Samaliel]

Here sales tax can be any of 2.1, 5.5 or 19.6%, depending on what you're buying. It can be different in some overseas territories (no sales tax apply in French Guyana, for example). It has its fair share of peculiar logic - for instance, "cultural items" are listed at 5.5%, which include movie or concert tickets, but not CDs and DVDs...

It's not much of a concern for the end consumer, though, since most prices are stated all taxes included. As far as I know, only businesses who sell to professionals or collectivities will state their prices without taxes (usually with the all taxes included nearby), because they might be able to deduct those from their own tax return.

Anyway, very complicated, but most people don't bother with it.

[Mikkel]

What the hell is sales tax? Is it VAT (value added tax..on all clothing leisure and technical purchases except for children's shoes?). In which case, it is 21.5% here, I think it's the highest in the EU. It is however included in all marked prices (it should be illegal to price goods minus a tax) and all non-EU residents can claim it back. Rip-off though.

It isn't. We Danes have 25% .

[DGoddessChardonnay]

But, if the guy *really* wants to bitch...he should buy real estate here sometime. The taxes involved are truly annoying

If he's in the market for real estate, send him here to Greensboro and he can buy a home within the city limits. Double taxes are the norm here and they go up every year (yes, for property within the city limits in our state, it's city and county taxes.)

Even water service is taxed . . . storm tax, rain tax, various surcharges. We don't have a snow tax as of yet (we don't really get enough here as a general rule) but I wouldn't rule it out someday.

He'd love it here.

[smileyeagle1021]

For those who don't know, our sales tax was increased not long ago to build new stadiums for the Pirates and Steelers--

sounds a lot like the Wasatch Front... we just recently raised taxes in all counties by one quarter of a percent to pay for transit improvements... and Salt Lake proper is considering raising taxes by yet another quarter of a percent to pay for the downtown transit improvements (specifically the improvements to the Central Station). Unlike all y'alls though who can go to the next county over, we don't have that option, the Front covers 6 counties (Utah, Salt Lake, Toelle, Davis, Weber, and Box Elder), and the two closest counties NOT on the Front are Cache and Summit counties which have set up their own transit improvement taxes... you want to get lower sales tax, you have to go to another state... and even then only one of the three states has a HIGHER tax rate...
So would the people in the northeast stop whining

[Cia]

In South Dakota state tax is 4% then you add on the city tax which is usually 1% or 2%, so I pay a total of 6% sales tax.

[protege]

So would the people in the northeast stop whining

LOL But seriously, many of the surrounding counties really don't have much in the way of shopping. Other than the usual shopping centers and smaller malls, that is. Plus, I really don't want to spend an hour or more driving into, say Washington County...to buy something I can easily get down the street. The cost of gasoline and time means that it's not worth it

Let's see..locally we have the sewer tax, water tax, cable TV tax, tax on phone (both cell and land lines)... Plus, the city of Pittsburgh tried to implement a commuter tax awhile back. That is, they were going to tax people who worked in the city, but didn't live there. Needless to say, it wasn't long before cries of "Taxation without representation" (since suburbanites cannot vote on anything the city council does) started flying, and it was dropped. Didn't stop some companies (my employer, for example) saying "fuck you" to the city, and moving just across city lines

[Mel]

You're in Ontario, aren't you?

Remember it used be 15%?

It used to be 18% in New Brunswick, when I was much younger!

[sms001]

(it should be illegal to price goods minus a tax)

I think we price without the tax to make changing prices marked easier.

If there is a sale at a store in the EU do you go through the entire store figuring out what the tax is on the new price and marking it accordingly? That seems like a bigger hassle than dealing with the occasional dimwit like the one in OP's post.

[batmoody]

Ya, no sales tax in Oregon, but I always get dimwits buying soda or beer who bitch about the price bing higher.

It's called bottle deposit dumbass....It's not new.