391–400 of 480 posts
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What's the tax on $5?
Depends on your location. If you are somewhere with a 5% sales tax for example, it would be $0.25. If you don't want to have to know the sales tax for your location, I believe the highest sales tax in the US is under 11% so just give the kid $5.55.
and depends on what you're buying. See sugar taxes, takeout taxes, restaurant taxes, etc.
Also, how do you know if tip is applied before or after taxes?
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Yes, I understand. But if you want to come to the same restaurant again and you don't tip, it may be a problem. Imagine Amazon not wanting to do business with you because you didn't add extra X% to your previous purchase.
That's the restaurant's problem not mine.
We could learn from for example Japan where there is no cents and all fees included so 5000 Yen is 5000 yen no tip no tax no fees no cents it's really cortisol reducing.
Including taxes in the sticker price is bad. It allows the government to quietly increase taxes without people noticing. Sales taxes are in general regressive and harm lower-income people the most, so they should be visible and attributable to government.
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Disagree. Bait and switch is one symptom of the issue that the price is not what you'll pay. Which to be clear is awful. And that matters if you have to be careful about spending. Also, "everyone knows about them", really? If it's so easy to "know" the local tax rate for various things, why isn't it easy to label them? See the rest of the world, where even young kids can go shopping. If you give them 5 , and the item…
> See the rest of the world, where even young kids can go shopping. If you give them 5 , and the item they want is less than 5, or they want five of something that is 1, they can buy it. In the US even young kids can go shopping too. If you give them $5 + . They can then buy any item whose price tag says $5 or less or 5 of any $1 item.
adults in our country assume a $1 and a $5 price tag is tax inclusive. the receipts show it.
how you gonna tell the kid it's priced at $1 but you gotta pay more than $1 because it isn't tax inclusive? lol
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Disagree. Bait and switch is one symptom of the issue that the price is not what you'll pay. Which to be clear is awful. And that matters if you have to be careful about spending. Also, "everyone knows about them", really? If it's so easy to "know" the local tax rate for various things, why isn't it easy to label them? See the rest of the world, where even young kids can go shopping. If you give them 5 , and the item…
> See the rest of the world, where even young kids can go shopping. If you give them 5 , and the item they want is less than 5, or they want five of something that is 1, they can buy it. In the US even young kids can go shopping too. If you give them $5 + . They can then buy any item whose price tag says $5 or less or 5 of any $1 item.
The only advantage to not including taxes is that people spend more money. This is marginally better for stores and worse for everyone else.
Theres no genuine benefit to society for not including taxes in the posted price.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Depends on your location. If you are somewhere with a 5% sales tax for example, it would be $0.25. If you don't want to have to know the sales tax for your location, I believe the highest sales tax in the US is under 11% so just give the kid $5.55.
Or, hear me out, we could do the same as the rest of the world and post the final price on the item. There is no reason not to except the retail lobby is more powerful than a divided electorate.
Capitalism is not the same as a working market.
A working market depends on many things, including price transparency. If people don't know how much they are paying for a service of unknown quality, they can't compare products and services.
Hidden fees are one way to prevent price transparency, but they are not the only one.
It may seem strange, but a working free market needs strong guidance. Laissez-faire capitalism will lead to broken markets with loss of freedom. There are too many ways to impede market competition. Here is a list of some, without claiming to be complete:
- Monopolies and oligopolies
- Cartels and collusion
- Confusion marketing (confusopoly)
- Hidden fees
- External costs
Especially external costs are insidious. This means that a company does not pay for everything it uses. For example, if a company lets it rip and pollutes a river instead of having its wastewater processed, it transfers the cost of pollution to everyone else.
When I was younger, I believed that capitalism would solve everything because of the invisible hand, a concept introduced by Adam Smith. The invisible hand is the idea that even if everyone egoistically optimizes their own benefits, there will be a natural collaboration that will achieve progress.
Today I know that this can work with a lot of strong guidance. One example: California has banned hidden fees.
Comments that are bringing up taxes (which are totally exempted by this bill anyway) and tips (with one small caveat) are completely missing the point. You can have a debate about how to display those items on a price list, but everyone knows about them and they are expected. The whole point of this bill is to prevent bait-and-switch, where loads of unknown or variable fees are tacked on after the price is initially…
Disagree. Bait and switch is one symptom of the issue that the price is not what you'll pay. Which to be clear is awful. And that matters if you have to be careful about spending. Also, "everyone knows about them", really? If it's so easy to "know" the local tax rate for various things, why isn't it easy to label them? See the rest of the world, where even young kids can go shopping. If you give them 5 , and the item…
If the sales tax is 9.25%, round up to 10%, so $1 on every hundred.
I walk into a store and buy something for $7.32. Ok, I know in my head the tax is about $0.70, so cool, it’s be “about” $8.
That’s all I need to know. I don’t carry rolls of Pennie’s around so I’m not worried about the cents. He’ll, when was the last time you paid in cash?
It’s the same with Fahrenheit or miles. It’s a simple calculation, not a massive obstacle that holds Americans back from daily living or technological advances.
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> See the rest of the world, where even young kids can go shopping. If you give them 5 , and the item they want is less than 5, or they want five of something that is 1, they can buy it. In the US even young kids can go shopping too. If you give them $5 + . They can then buy any item whose price tag says $5 or less or 5 of any $1 item.
Tax rates vary based on the type of good. Give a kid $5 and send them to the grocery store and you have to anticipate if they’ll buy candy or an apple or soap or a magazine. The only advantage to not including taxes is that people spend more money. This is marginally better for stores and worse for everyone else. Theres no genuine benefit to society for not including taxes in the posted price.
While at this point it makes more sense to come up with a new law/methodology, I understand the thought process. If an item is $5 final price you don't know how much the tax actually was. The taxes can be raised easily and only those paying close attention to local or state politics would know. It's a backstop against government greed.
Again, I think we could reform this tax code and tip culture. However, I believe you legally have to include the tax. Maybe you simply should only be able to advertise the final price, but on the receipt it shows the tax rate.
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You don't need the address, you just need to know in which city they live, AT MOST. Taxes don't change every street.
They might. Cities can, in most states, cross county borders. Both counties and cities can have their own taxes. I've seen cases where a neighborhood was split. Two near-identical houses, but one had less than half the property tax of the one next to it.