I could never work it out when I was over in the US. Why don’t you guys include tax in your prices? Why must a dollar hamburger actually cost me a $1.08? Is there a historical reason for it? OR do y’all just like to keep reminding yourselves how much the gov’t is actually taking from you?
Yeah I remember finding it really annoying travelling across states and not being able to take up the proper money because there would always be sales tax to add, and it would all be different amounts.
CM’s point is exactly why most large chains don’t include the sales tax in their prices. They vary, not just across state lines, but in and out of the large cities as well. The big stores wouldn’t be able to print and ship flyers to stores in differing locations even for a single cross country sale.
Since the big guys don’t include them, the little guys as a rule also don’t. If the small department store included tax, they would have to hope their customers remembered to factor that in when comparing prices. Why make it harder on the customer?
Sales tax is levied at different amounts on a state-by-state basis. It’s over 10% in Calif. now I think, and usually about 8% here in Bama, though that can vary from town-to-town and county-to-county as well.
I think the most confusing thing for y’all to grasp is that each state was envisioned to be sovereign from the federal government for everything but which is specifically protected or forbidden in the Constitution. There’s no federal sales tax here at present, but if things go right for my wants, there will be within the next couple of years. It’s called The Fair Tax and would abolish the IRS and make obsolete the amendment to the Constitution (16th I think) that allows for income taxes to be collected by the fed. It would not however, change that each state can also have their own tax system, so it would be added to that. The deal is though, the Fair Tax would fund Social Security, Defense, MediCare, everything that the income tax now funds, only no money would come out of our checks and all taxes would be voluntary in that if you don’t want the government having more of your money, don’t spend as much. Also, tourists would be funding our systems as well. Revenue to the fed will be much higher with this system than with the present one, and individuals will have much more liberty than we do now.
Anyway, think of our current sales taxes like you would the EU or something like it. Your taxes aren’t the same as France’s right? Of Germany’s? Same thing, each country funds itself its own way just like each state here does.
Sales tax is levied at different amounts on a state-by-state basis. It’s over 10% in Calif. now I think, and usually about 8% here in Bama, though that can vary from town-to-town and county-to-county as well.
In Minneapolis it even varies from what part of town you are in. For example, we have skyways downtown (actually pretty cool). There is an additional tax for skyway businesses to cover the cost of the skyways. It think it’s like a 3% extra tax just for those businesses.
I presume internet companies taking advantage of this, and selling stuff to people in the next town/state because their sales tax is different. Could make a decent difference on big ticket items.
There are laws in place for that. Some businesses can get away without charging sales tax by shipping to other states. Other companies do have to charge sales tax. I don’t remember the specifics unfrotunately.
What? You mean the price you see on the price tag is the price you pay at the register? How weird! ;-P
One of the advantages of living on the New Hampshire border is there’s no sales tax there. Of course I believe in paying taxes to the state I live in, but it seems that most of the retailers in my area set up shop on the NH side of the border, darn it!
Ah, so you have different taxes for each state! I guess that makes sense. But that must be a shame for the stupid consumers (=tourists) who don’t realise that two items with the same price tag in different states will actually come to different amounts at the till (cash register? what am I registering for?).
As to The Fair Tax, that’s an idea I’ve been a fan of for some time (probably since you mentioned it on the old forums). If it does get introduced, I can’t wait to see the results. Hopefully we’ll end up with something similar here.
Anyway, think of our current sales taxes like you would the EU or something like it. Your taxes aren’t the same as France’s right? Of Germany’s? Same thing, each country funds itself its own way just like each state here does.
Aye, but we don’t need to know France’s or Germany’s tax rates. We see the price, and we know how much cash we have to fork over. Which it makes it a helluva lot easier for us, especially now we don’t even have to convert to too many different currencies. I’d imagine Deus is loving that fact for when he goes travelling through Europe.
can’t you cater for the tourist, treat them like royalty, kiss their feet, provide red carpets? Have you not heard of the words customer service in the USA?
can’t you cater for the tourist, treat them like royalty, kiss their feet, provide red carpets? Have you not heard of the words customer service in the USA?
Sales tax is levied at different amounts on a state-by-state basis. It’s over 10% in Calif. now I think, and usually about 8% here in Bama, though that can vary from town-to-town and county-to-county as well.
In Minneapolis it even varies from what part of town you are in. For example, we have skyways downtown (actually pretty cool). There is an additional tax for skyway businesses to cover the cost of the skyways. It think it’s like a 3% extra tax just for those businesses.
Even more confusing? Try figuring out the taxes on clothing. Some is covered and some is not. In our bike shop, some clothing is tax free, while others are not. How they determine something is not “required” for survival (i.e. drawers, sox, pants, shirts) while other stuff is not is beyond me. It never fails that I have three or four people everyday wondering why there is tax on a biking jersey, but not on a rain shell.
Johnny, johnny, we will welcome you with open arms in 2012 for the Olympics in London. Expect to hear old ladies accusing you of taking up too much bus space, to see the local populace laugh their heads off as you stagger and fall into the gutter because your constitution could not handle any drink with more than 2.5% proofing, to see souvenier sellers rip you off for that I LUV London teashirt and see the Police laugh when you complain that you had been duped into purchasing Buckingham Palace by some wide-boy conman.
Ah, so you have different taxes for each state! I guess that makes sense. But that must be a shame for the stupid consumers (=tourists) who don’t realise that two items with the same price tag in different states will actually come to different amounts at the till (cash register? what am I registering for?).
That’s one thing I love about the British, you have simple, short, pleasant sounding words for everything. We use a flashlight, you use a ‘torch’. We use an ‘elevator’, you use a ‘lift’.
LD -
And some food is taxed and some not if I remember correctly. I dunno, I just pay whatever the register tells me.
In PA, the rule was that if the food was ‘prepared on premise’ it was taxed. If you go into a deli, and buy a sandwich, it’s taxed. If you buy the ingredients to make the sandwich yourself, no tax.
can’t you cater for the tourist, treat them like royalty, kiss their feet, provide red carpets? Have you not heard of the words customer service in the USA?
Sure. We treat you better than Canada in this regard. Up there they’ll charge you two taxes (in many provences coming out to about 15%) on most purchases. And they’ll refund one of them when you leave, as long your receipts meet a bunch of arbitrary requirements.
Johnny, johnny, we will welcome you with open arms in 2012 for the Olympics in London. Expect to hear old ladies accusing you of taking up too much bus space, to see the local populace laugh their heads off as you stagger and fall into the gutter because your constitution could not handle any drink with more than 2.5% proofing, to see souvenier sellers rip you off for that I LUV London teashirt and see the Police laugh when you complain that you had been duped into purchasing Buckingham Palace by some wide-boy conman.
Now, now. The rest I can live with, but.......
<-------- See that picture there? I’ve been drunk under the table aboard one of her majesty’s ships while acting under orders. I know my limits of British ale, and I can attest that while probably not up to your standards, I will outlast most of the Yanks you’ve met. I may quit early, but I’ll make it home under my own power. :-)
When I was growing up, Brooklyn still had several old small breweries in it. Some left over from the original Dutch settlers. The beer we were drinking wasn’t that p**s water the big breweries are pushing.
Zipp - Ahhhh Canada....well they are part of the family we call the commonwealth, we happily throw them a little extra. With the exception of the french section of course.
Johnny you probably have less alcholics as a result. But the beer in the states is pretty dire. What about the irish pubs in the states, son’t they have any decent beer?
Johnny you probably have less alcholics as a result. But the beer in the states is pretty dire. What about the irish pubs in the states, son’t they have any decent beer?
Most are just selling the same crap as the other bars. But lots of bars are opening that sell imported beers. Problem is most people don’t know which ones are good and which aren’t. Coupled with the fact that import laws here and export laws there may well mean you aren’t drinking anything like the European or Asian beers, and those are mostly full of know nothing beer snobs.
There are lots of micro-breweries opening up, they range from great to absolute puke. But it means if you look around, you can actually find some decent beers nowadays.
Beers are still generally lower proof, and for some reason Corona beer from Mexico is having a surge of popularity (why would you drink a beer you had to stick fruit into for flavor?) but things aren’t as poor as 10-20 years ago.
