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As a counter-example, sales taxes (and VATs) are very simple, yet almost nobody knows how much they’re paying.

by nickff 5y ago

wongarsu 5y ago
In Europe VAT is a line item on every invoice. And apparently in the US you have to do some mental gymnastics to manually add sales tax to the listed price to figure out how much to pay in the first place. Of course most people have no idea how much VAT they pay for Amazon purchases in a year, but that's mostly a product of them not knowing how much they spend on Amazon in a year. If they know the latter, the former is trivial to figure out.
- Ajedi32 5y ago
  > apparently in the US you have to do some mental gymnastics to manually add sales tax to the listed price to figure out how much to pay in the first place FWIW, usually in the US it's just a line item on the receipt or checkout screen.
- drdec 5y ago
  FYI, in the US, depending on the jurisdiction, some items are exempt from sales tax. E.g. necessities like food and clothing. In my jurisdiction, clothing is taxed by the county but not by the state. Which is a long way of saying that even if you knew the total you spent at Amazon, you wouldn't be able to derive the total amount of sales tax paid.
- JohnTHaller 5y ago
  In the US, it's still a line item on your receipt. Most places don't include sales tax on the shelf tag or price sticker due to complexity. You can have state, county/area, and/or city taxes that apply. In NYC, for instance, we have a 4% NY State sales tax, a 4.5% NYC sales tax, and a 0.375% NYC metro area sales tax, totaling 8.875%. Clothes aren't taxed in the metro area sales tax so are 8.5% unless they're under $110 and then they're exempt. Most food is exempt except prepared food. Then there's the issue of fractions of a cent as the sales tax is calculated on the total bill not each item individually. There's also the fact that taxes change now and then... they adjust what food it applies to or what the cutoff is for clothes, etc. Some organizations have a sales tax exemption certificate (if they are a business planning to resell for instance) and that must also be taken into account. Due to complexity, all larger stores with multiple geographic locations would never have separate pricing signage for every single store, so they don't. Other stores do the same. It's all calculated at the register as things are scanned in the computer.
  - sofixa 5y ago
    As has been said numerous times, this is a bullshit excuse. If the register is capable of calculating the taxes, an electronic price tag system ( which is the norm in all big chain stores in Western European countries, which have multiple geographic locations and have locale-specific prices) would too.
    - JohnTHaller 5y ago
      If you're referring to the digitally updated signage at the shelves (e-paper or otherwise), none of the stores I go to in NYC have that except Best Buy. It may be weird for you when you visit, but, as we all grew up with it, it's just normal here.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

As a counter-example, sales taxes (and VATs) are very simple, yet almost nobody knows how much they’re paying.

by nickff 5y ago

As a counter-example, sales taxes (and VATs) are very simple, yet almost nobody knows how much they’re paying.

In Europe VAT is a line item on every invoice. And apparently in the US you have to do some mental gymnastics to manually add sales tax to the listed price to figure out how much to pay in the first place. Of course most people have no idea how much VAT they pay for Amazon purchases in a year, but that's mostly a product of them not knowing how much they spend on Amazon in a year. If they know the latter, the former is trivial to figure out.

Ajedi32 5y ago
> apparently in the US you have to do some mental gymnastics to manually add sales tax to the listed price to figure out how much to pay in the first place FWIW, usually in the US it's just a line item on the receipt or checkout screen.
drdec 5y ago
FYI, in the US, depending on the jurisdiction, some items are exempt from sales tax. E.g. necessities like food and clothing. In my jurisdiction, clothing is taxed by the county but not by the state. Which is a long way of saying that even if you knew the total you spent at Amazon, you wouldn't be able to derive the total amount of sales tax paid.
JohnTHaller 5y ago
In the US, it's still a line item on your receipt. Most places don't include sales tax on the shelf tag or price sticker due to complexity. You can have state, county/area, and/or city taxes that apply. In NYC, for instance, we have a 4% NY State sales tax, a 4.5% NYC sales tax, and a 0.375% NYC metro area sales tax, totaling 8.875%. Clothes aren't taxed in the metro area sales tax so are 8.5% unless they're under $110 and then they're exempt. Most food is exempt except prepared food. Then there's the issue of fractions of a cent as the sales tax is calculated on the total bill not each item individually. There's also the fact that taxes change now and then... they adjust what food it applies to or what the cutoff is for clothes, etc. Some organizations have a sales tax exemption certificate (if they are a business planning to resell for instance) and that must also be taken into account. Due to complexity, all larger stores with multiple geographic locations would never have separate pricing signage for every single store, so they don't. Other stores do the same. It's all calculated at the register as things are scanned in the computer.
- sofixa 5y ago
  As has been said numerous times, this is a bullshit excuse. If the register is capable of calculating the taxes, an electronic price tag system ( which is the norm in all big chain stores in Western European countries, which have multiple geographic locations and have locale-specific prices) would too.
  - JohnTHaller 5y ago
    If you're referring to the digitally updated signage at the shelves (e-paper or otherwise), none of the stores I go to in NYC have that except Best Buy. It may be weird for you when you visit, but, as we all grew up with it, it's just normal here.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]