My American Brethren! Can you explain this to me?

[solidstatemind]

The whole "sales tax" thing. *SNIP
EDIT: To clarify, what I'm basically asking is why can't American shops include VAT (or thier equivalent) in their prices?

See below.

*snip*

Because the government taxes; manufacturers, importers, shipping companies, and the stores, so to make up for the lost profits they charge sales tax.

That doesn't make any sense. Sales tax goes to the government, it's not a "business passing taxes onto consumers" scenario.

Actually, he's closer to being right than all of the 'It's an advertising scheme' people.

See, the reason Sales Tax is charged seperately is due primarily to the way those taxes are collected. First thing to remember is this: Sales tax is set by and goes to the local and/or state Government-- not the national Gov't. This presents a problem to a retailer... a reseller of goods. The store buys wholesale goods (which usually are tax exempt, btw), so the retailer is going to mark it up a bit and set the price based upon that... but wait a minute! The local government wants a cut, so rather than reducing their profit margin, the retailer charges the customer the sales tax instead. And since sales taxes are different from state-to-state, and can change from year-to-year, rather than having the prices wildly fluctuate (not to mention having to change all your data, all your price tags, all your advertisements, etc. etc.), they just tack on whatever the current rate is at the cash register.

To add to the confusion, the money collected for sales tax doesn't immediately go to the Government. Instead, what happens is: at the end of the month, the retailer reports to the Government how much they sold and how much money they made, and the Government makes them pay off of that, not the receipts of how much sales tax was collected.

Is it convenient for the consumer? Not really, but as has been pointed out many times before in many places, business aren't really interested in your convenience, they only want your money.

to the OP: the suggestion of just adding 10% to the price you see on the shelf is the easiest and safest way to go.

 

[lokun489]

some componies here show it with tax some without, the ones without annoy me.

 

[icyneesan]

Again, Alberta has no PST!

To anyone who buys gasoline, flies in a plane, uses anything that had to be transported, buys plastic, or buys anything that requires oil at all, thank you for your purchase! Please come again!

*Breaks into Alberta Parliament and forces them to add new pointless taxes*

Suffer like all the other Canadians now!

 

[VincentMm]

You know how here in the UK a business can sometimes claim tax back/get a small tax break on business expenses?
I assume it's the same thing there, just makes life easier for accountants.

 

[bartman675]

just go to Delaware it doesn't have a sales tax but, its a dull place to be

 

[Throwitawaynow]

This topic keeps growing so I would like to expand on things already said. America is big, really really big. We have states bigger than a lot of countries. Each state has a different sales tax, and that sales tax is constantly changing. I live in California, sales tax central. But, not only is there a state sales tax but there are also city sales tax which like the states tax is constantly changing. Our stores consist of basically chain stores and that's it because no one else can compete. It would be a ridiculous amount of time and effort to update the changing price of city and state tax everytime it changes. In America when we buy something we'll usually have more cash than we need already, or if it's a big purchase most of us will use a credit card.

Can you imagine trying to find something obscure in one of these huge stores when 90% of the employees are going around fixing the number. The company is also lowering the costs on older products making more things to change.

tl;dr America is big, tax is always changing, silly to always update the price.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I never got why they don't just include the damn tax in the price, get it all out of the way.

 

[IsraelRocks]

Got the same thing here in Israel. only its included in the price.
its actually illegal to put a price on something without including sales tax

 

[qwertyzxy27]

because if they added them they couldnt have flashy looking prices like 19.99 or lots of 9's to make it so its just not that higher number its a marketing technique to make consumers feel like they are paying less

 

[fgdfgdgd]

Sounds like GST from Australia, but it's included in the total price of all items bar the bare basics like bread and milk.

 

[aakibar]

i don't know why retailers cannot include the price, im under the impression that includeing the extra 10cents is enough to scare away people from buying a product. for penny pinchers like me i have to the math before i buy anthing and if its an inpulse purchase then im screwed because i cannot do basic math to save my life

 

[zane224]

well, the tax is different for different things, and differes per state as well, which is why it is not included in the price listed on the shelf. For example: in the state of Maine, the sales tax is 5% in general, but 7% on fast food. New Hampshire does not have a state sales tax at all.

Canada does this also. In fact, Canada has a provincial sales tax and a federal one. They factor the federal one AFTER the total of the provincial one has been calculated, so they end up actually taxing the tax!

 

[gamerguyal]

This especially pisses me off when something is advertised on a "dollar menu" at McDonalds or some other fast food place. Often I will forget that I need an extra 5 cents and just try to hand the cashier a dollar.

 

[SimuLord]

The whole "sales tax" thing. When buying stuff, it says one price when you see it on the self, right? But then when you take it to the cashier, it adds like 7% of the price to whatever you're buying, yeah? How does that make sense? My reasoning for asking this is that I'm going to Hollywood for a holiday next year, and I don't want to get caught out when I try to buy something.

So I'm asking any Americans reading this, why do shops in your country do that? Is there some legal reason why it happens? Do all shops do that over there? And for other people not from America, does this happen in your counrty, or does it make any sense to you? It's something I can't get my head around on my own.

EDIT: To clarify, what I'm basically asking is why can't American shops include VAT (or thier equivalent) in their prices?

You're correct in assuming that VAT and sales tax are basically one and the same. The reason it's not included in the price mostly has to do with truth in advertising laws.

See, companies advertise the retail price in their marketing materials ("Pre-order Fallout: New Vegas at your local Best Buy for $49.99 and get...") So Best Buy has to make that their shelf price.

Since sales tax is different in every state (and some states, like New Hampshire, Oregon, and a few others, don't have sales tax), companies can't make different marketing materials for every different state in which they do business.

 

[Tipsy Giant]

This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life, growing up in England i'd have gotten all "false advertising ************" on their ass, cheeky fucks

 

[Tipsy Giant]

The whole "sales tax" thing. When buying stuff, it says one price when you see it on the self, right? But then when you take it to the cashier, it adds like 7% of the price to whatever you're buying, yeah? How does that make sense? My reasoning for asking this is that I'm going to Hollywood for a holiday next year, and I don't want to get caught out when I try to buy something.

So I'm asking any Americans reading this, why do shops in your country do that? Is there some legal reason why it happens? Do all shops do that over there? And for other people not from America, does this happen in your counrty, or does it make any sense to you? It's something I can't get my head around on my own.

EDIT: To clarify, what I'm basically asking is why can't American shops include VAT (or thier equivalent) in their prices?

You're correct in assuming that VAT and sales tax are basically one and the same. The reason it's not included in the price mostly has to do with truth in advertising laws.

See, companies advertise the retail price in their marketing materials ("Pre-order Fallout: New Vegas at your local Best Buy for $49.99 and get...") So Best Buy has to make that their shelf price.

Since sales tax is different in every state (and some states, like New Hampshire, Oregon, and a few others, don't have sales tax), companies can't make different marketing materials for every different state in which they do business.

and this is why the rest of the world giggles when americans call themselves the UNITED states, you guys couldn't be more divided if you tried, just look at the difference between California and Alabama for christs sake, you should just split your country so the idiots get the south and the people the rest of the world like (liberals) get the north, SORTED

 

[Deacon Cole]

The whole "sales tax" thing. When buying stuff, it says one price when you see it on the self, right? But then when you take it to the cashier, it adds like 7% of the price to whatever you're buying, yeah? How does that make sense? My reasoning for asking this is that I'm going to Hollywood for a holiday next year, and I don't want to get caught out when I try to buy something.

So I'm asking any Americans reading this, why do shops in your country do that? Is there some legal reason why it happens? Do all shops do that over there? And for other people not from America, does this happen in your counrty, or does it make any sense to you? It's something I can't get my head around on my own.

EDIT: To clarify, what I'm basically asking is why can't American shops include VAT (or thier equivalent) in their prices?

I think that, legally, a merchant can include the sales and other applicable taxes in the marked price, but they can also opt to mark the before tax price, which many do because it is lower, thus enticing customers to buy. It could also be because the sales tax can change if the state/local government decides to do so. This saves them having to change their price point markings.

Where I live, I think the gas prices include the tax, but most everything else does not. I would suggest you ask what the sales tax is when buying something. It should be the same in the entire county you go to. If you travel around a bit, you're likely to run into different sales taxes. But figure on about 10%, which I think is still higher than any sales taxes in the States and you should be alright.

 

[SimuLord]

The whole "sales tax" thing. When buying stuff, it says one price when you see it on the self, right? But then when you take it to the cashier, it adds like 7% of the price to whatever you're buying, yeah? How does that make sense? My reasoning for asking this is that I'm going to Hollywood for a holiday next year, and I don't want to get caught out when I try to buy something.

So I'm asking any Americans reading this, why do shops in your country do that? Is there some legal reason why it happens? Do all shops do that over there? And for other people not from America, does this happen in your counrty, or does it make any sense to you? It's something I can't get my head around on my own.

EDIT: To clarify, what I'm basically asking is why can't American shops include VAT (or thier equivalent) in their prices?

You're correct in assuming that VAT and sales tax are basically one and the same. The reason it's not included in the price mostly has to do with truth in advertising laws.

See, companies advertise the retail price in their marketing materials ("Pre-order Fallout: New Vegas at your local Best Buy for $49.99 and get...") So Best Buy has to make that their shelf price.

Since sales tax is different in every state (and some states, like New Hampshire, Oregon, and a few others, don't have sales tax), companies can't make different marketing materials for every different state in which they do business.

and this is why the rest of the world giggles when americans call themselves the UNITED states, you guys couldn't be more divided if you tried, just look at the difference between California and Alabama for christs sake, you should just split your country so the idiots get the south and the people the rest of the world like (liberals) get the north, SORTED

Amen, brother. I've been saying this for years. Someone wrote a book called "The Nine Nations of North America" which posited a future in which the US divides along cultural lines into nine distinct countries that would all be far more unified than the current 50-state arrangement.

 

[Tipsy Giant]

The whole "sales tax" thing. When buying stuff, it says one price when you see it on the self, right? But then when you take it to the cashier, it adds like 7% of the price to whatever you're buying, yeah? How does that make sense? My reasoning for asking this is that I'm going to Hollywood for a holiday next year, and I don't want to get caught out when I try to buy something.

So I'm asking any Americans reading this, why do shops in your country do that? Is there some legal reason why it happens? Do all shops do that over there? And for other people not from America, does this happen in your counrty, or does it make any sense to you? It's something I can't get my head around on my own.

EDIT: To clarify, what I'm basically asking is why can't American shops include VAT (or thier equivalent) in their prices?

You're correct in assuming that VAT and sales tax are basically one and the same. The reason it's not included in the price mostly has to do with truth in advertising laws.

See, companies advertise the retail price in their marketing materials ("Pre-order Fallout: New Vegas at your local Best Buy for $49.99 and get...") So Best Buy has to make that their shelf price.

Since sales tax is different in every state (and some states, like New Hampshire, Oregon, and a few others, don't have sales tax), companies can't make different marketing materials for every different state in which they do business.

and this is why the rest of the world giggles when americans call themselves the UNITED states, you guys couldn't be more divided if you tried, just look at the difference between California and Alabama for christs sake, you should just split your country so the idiots get the south and the people the rest of the world like (liberals) get the north, SORTED

Amen, brother. I've been saying this for years. Someone wrote a book called "The Nine Nations of North America" which posited a future in which the US divides along cultural lines into nine distinct countries that would all be far more unified than the current 50-state arrangement.

I feel so bad for informed rational americans when their idiots are out with flags yelling fags, they should divorce their idiots into the south (that way 90% won't have to move BOOM)