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I dont think simply putting on the reciept is a solution to #3, because people internalize pricing and make the choice to buy before the transaction. it would o

I dont think simply putting on the reciept is a solution to #3, because people internalize pricing and make the choice to buy before the transaction. it would only work if the before Tax and After Tax price was displayed before purchase. Anything less is still hiding the taxation IMO Also I am intrigued by the people that say they are "Having to memorize the tax rates in every city" and "apply those accurately on the fly" I am not sure I have ever in my life needed to that? Why would you need to calculate that on the fly? Unless you are buying a big ticket item costing thousands of dollars then the tax should not be a factor on if you are going to buy X or not so what purpose would it have to calculate it in your head like that?

hansvm 4y ago
> what purpose would it have to calculate it in your head like that? Huge swathes of people in the US struggle to afford food, and an extra 10+% floating around makes a big difference. It's nice that you can afford to spend your time more productively, but that's a luxury a lot of people can't. As something of a side note, it's a bit of an odd position to take that taxe hikes are important enough to make it illegal to even mildly obscure them but that they're minor enough they would never affect your purchasing decisions on all but the most major of items.
- phpisthebest 4y ago
  >US struggle to afford food, and an extra 10+% floating around makes a big I am not aware of any us state that charges sales tax on staple food items. Also I feel sorry for anyone that lives in a place with 10% sales tax that is crazy high >>a bit of an odd position Not really one of the ways I believe we have to keep them low is by ensuring transparency. My state has less 7% sales tax less than 4% state income tax, less than 1% local income tax and a capped property tax of 1% Transparency is key to keeping them low
  - hansvm 4y ago
    > I am not aware of any us state that charges sales tax on staple food items. Also I feel sorry for anyone that lives in a place with 10% sales tax that is crazy high Most major US cities are at 8-9%. Many smaller cities (and St Louis) are more than 10. Cumulatively it's a lot of people afflicted. Also, I'm with you on staples not being taxed, but that's part of the problem with the tax being added later instead of precomputed into the total; if you're shopping at a general purpose store (the Walmart in Mt View AR has been an offender for awhile, but I rarely find perfectly correct tax calculations on receipts for all but the simplest of purchases at any store) and buy a mix of staples and clothes and whatever, very frequently you'll find that staples were taxed, and if you weren't tracking things closely you'll have missed where the extra few dollars went. You don't know till the register what the price will be and can't easily plan ahead. Another related problem, especially in the poorer parts of the country, the cheapest calories you can buy, especially if you're working too many jobs to have time to cook, are often excluded from such tax exclusions to discourage unhealthy eating habits (note also how obesity negatively correlates strongly with income). If you go into it with a vague notion of food not being taxed you can get surprised with 10% sales tax, a 5% junk food tax, and often a 10-50 cent (on cheap food a non-negligible percentage) plastic use tax or some other crap. And so on. The problems stemming from not knowing what you'll pay are common and real, and they disproportionately hit people who can least afford it.
  - dqv 4y ago
    So the reasonable compromise here is to just have both prices on the labels. The pre-tax and post-tax price. I wouldn't be opposed to knowing how much taxes increase the individual price of the item, but I do want to know the final price before I put it in my cart.

hansvm 4y ago

> what purpose would it have to calculate it in your head like that? Huge swathes of people in the US struggle to afford food, and an extra 10+% floating around makes a big difference. It's nice that you can afford to spend your time more productively, but that's a luxury a lot of people can't. As something of a side note, it's a bit of an odd position to take that taxe hikes are important enough to make it illegal to even mildly obscure them but that they're minor enough they would never affect your purchasing decisions on all but the most major of items.

phpisthebest 4y ago
>US struggle to afford food, and an extra 10+% floating around makes a big I am not aware of any us state that charges sales tax on staple food items. Also I feel sorry for anyone that lives in a place with 10% sales tax that is crazy high >>a bit of an odd position Not really one of the ways I believe we have to keep them low is by ensuring transparency. My state has less 7% sales tax less than 4% state income tax, less than 1% local income tax and a capped property tax of 1% Transparency is key to keeping them low
- hansvm 4y ago
  > I am not aware of any us state that charges sales tax on staple food items. Also I feel sorry for anyone that lives in a place with 10% sales tax that is crazy high Most major US cities are at 8-9%. Many smaller cities (and St Louis) are more than 10. Cumulatively it's a lot of people afflicted. Also, I'm with you on staples not being taxed, but that's part of the problem with the tax being added later instead of precomputed into the total; if you're shopping at a general purpose store (the Walmart in Mt View AR has been an offender for awhile, but I rarely find perfectly correct tax calculations on receipts for all but the simplest of purchases at any store) and buy a mix of staples and clothes and whatever, very frequently you'll find that staples were taxed, and if you weren't tracking things closely you'll have missed where the extra few dollars went. You don't know till the register what the price will be and can't easily plan ahead. Another related problem, especially in the poorer parts of the country, the cheapest calories you can buy, especially if you're working too many jobs to have time to cook, are often excluded from such tax exclusions to discourage unhealthy eating habits (note also how obesity negatively correlates strongly with income). If you go into it with a vague notion of food not being taxed you can get surprised with 10% sales tax, a 5% junk food tax, and often a 10-50 cent (on cheap food a non-negligible percentage) plastic use tax or some other crap. And so on. The problems stemming from not knowing what you'll pay are common and real, and they disproportionately hit people who can least afford it.
- dqv 4y ago
  So the reasonable compromise here is to just have both prices on the labels. The pre-tax and post-tax price. I wouldn't be opposed to knowing how much taxes increase the individual price of the item, but I do want to know the final price before I put it in my cart.