My American Brethren! Can you explain this to me?

[Ponch]

Delaware doesn't have sales tax.

 

[Squarez]

What I don't get is that sales tax is practically the same as those tax stamps (except on everything, not just documents) that you Americans objected to so much you fought a war with us about it.

 

[Breaker deGodot]

It sucks, but it's the law.

 

[jpoon]

Fuck VAT, I'll pass on that shit! The reason they apply this tax is because our government is a bunch of greedy fucks for the most part and they love love LOVE to waste our hard earned money on a bunch of useless (mostly useless) bullshit. But I digress, the simple answer is because they are fuckwads...

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

7%? It's 13% over here(Canada), and it's a *****. Not including the tax means that everything seems cheaper, especially on larger purchases. Something $299.99 looks like it's $300, it's 338.99. So 38 dollars go to the government, and a consumer is angry about sales tax.

 

[CrashBang]

Yeah I found that really annoying when I went to New York on holiday. Don't get me wrong, I'm still moving to the USA asap but I don't know why they can't include VAT in the display price like we do in the UK

 

[capnpupster]

I live in Oregon, we don't have sales tax here, that's for chumps.

 

[Mullahgrrl]

But do you still have to pay us sales tax if your not a United States citizen?

Wouldn't that be taxation without representation?

 

[Unesh52]

I'm pretty sure they don't include it for the same reason they'll price something at 6.99 when it's still putting you out 7 bucks. Apparently the subconscious mind regards that price as cheaper even if it's barely so, making it more enticing or something.

I wish stores would price things including sales tax, but they won't because it seems that statistically I would buy less shit if they did.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Yeah, my when my missus came here from America, she asked why they didn't add on tax when we bought some stuff at GAME. I'm a tad confused as to why it's not just rolled into the price. If it's already been explained, I'm sorry, I just can't be bothered to look through three more pages to find out.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Taxes. There's a little bit added to the cost of everything. Yeah, it'd probably make more sense if they just included tax into the full price you see, but then that'd require a little more math.

And as we all know, people in business can't do math.

They do the same thing here in Canada with the GST and the PST. A few stores and restaurants include them in the pricing but most don't. You just have to get used to figuring it out in your head, that is all.

Still, it is irritating.

 

[Unesh52]

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

because the total sale is what is taxed a certain percentage, not each item. does that make sense?

No. (sorry to be a dick, but I'm a math major, so I must!)

ax + ay + az = a(x + y + z)

or

(7% * 9.95) + (7% * 29.99) = 7% * 34.94

Sales tax is the same regardless of when and how you apply it.

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

Its cause our fucked up gov't has a lust for money and will always want money no matter what.

 

[Cheery Lunatic]

Each state has a different sales tax percentage (Texas is 8.25% if I remember right). The companies don't belong to specific states, so they won't specify the different retail price 50 times (or however many states have sale tax).

I'm surprised England doesn't have it frankly.

 

[Berethond]

7% VAT? Ehh, you are lucky, guys. In poland, VAT is always included in price, but we have 23%

It's not a Value-Added Tax, it's a tax on the total sale price of the item. For example, a $10 item would be $10 + $10 * .0855. A VAT is a tax on the seller's profit, not the total sale price.

Yeah, my when my missus came here from America, she asked why they didn't add on tax when we bought some stuff at GAME. I'm a tad confused as to why it's not just rolled into the price. If it's already been explained, I'm sorry, I just can't be bothered to look through three more pages to find out.

It's not added into the price, because the sales tax varies from state to state, and city to city. For example, where I live, it's 8.55%, but in other areas in California, it's 8.25%, yet in Nevada, there is no sales tax at all.

EDIT: <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_the_United_States#Alabama>Look here for sales tax in whatever state you're going to.

 

[Macgyvercas]

Well, here in Pennsylvania, we only have taxes on things that are not essentials (clothing, food, etc. are not taxed). Everything else has a 6% sales tax.

In Erie, we get buses of Canadians from time to time coming down for a clothes shopping spree.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

So I'm asking any Americans reading this, why do shops in your country do that? Is there some legal reason why it happens?

I'm going to recycle a post I made on the subject a while back:

The way I always understood it was that it's a function of the way sales tax works in the US. Instead of a national VAT like the UK has, sales tax can be set all the way down to the city/town level. There are parts of the the US where you can drive for twenty minutes and be paying several fewer percentage points in sales tax.

Updating all the price labels in all the locations for a chain like, say, Best Buy would be prohibitively expensive, so they just put the retail price on everything and add tax at the register.

(I personally prefer the way the UK does it--it's a lot easier to shop when you're short on money and know exactly how much everything's going to cost.)

Exactly this. If you drive for forty minutes out of my town you will pay .25% less sales task. It's where most residents buy cars. I'd love it if individual businesses would take the .25 seconds required to print the price including tax on the tag as well.

 

[mrpenguinismyhomeboy]

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

cause our government likes being sneaky.

 

[FaithorFire]

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

The reason its never included in listed sales prices has to do with politics. Sales taxes are imposed in different areas like States, cities, counties, and municipalities. The sales tax rates in many places will shift depending on whether the governor, state senators, councilmen, or whatever legislative power in place, has a personal interest in raising or lowering a certain area's tax rate

Example: My sister is a student at the conservative Liberty University in Virginia. When the Democratic party took control of the city of Lynchburg in 2008 (where the school pays taxes) The democrats punished the school for voting conservatively by introducing 29% food tax on all the college students and professors. It's very apparent that republicans are going to take the city council this year, and they will roll the sales tax back to something like 4%. There was no food tax there before, btw, but that is how it was politicized.
That kind of thing happens everywhere, for lots of political reasons, perpetrated by all politicians (Although it is typically MUCH more subtle).

Including the sales tax on the retail price would make sense, except it would force retailers to mark off and change labels and packaging every two years in some areas. Its what we get for having an ass-backwards political environment.
Sales taxes just fluctuate too much to be marked with products

 

[Canid117]

So I'm asking any Americans reading this, why do shops in your country do that?

The State decides to do that so tourists can help support their budget. That said there are several states that have either no sales tax or very limited sales tax.

Oregon
New Hampshire
New Mexico
Delaware
Alaska

I believe these are the states you can visit without having to worry about 7% being added to the price of the useless crap you buy at the gift shop.