7 ms·

Does having different levels of tax between states, and between municipalities within those states, actually benefit the public? I just don’t see how this is

Does having different levels of tax between states, and between municipalities within those states, actually benefit the public? I just don’t see how this is better than literally every other country in the world which sets sales tax at the federal level. And please don’t hit me with ridiculous hypotheticals “if it’s set at the federal level, the government could just increase the tax to 7000 billion trillion percent to steal everyone’s money”.

krallja 3y ago
If the federal government set the tax, the states and cities wouldn’t get any of it.
- shortcake27 3y ago
  So using your logic, in almost every other country in the world where sales tax is set at the federal level, states/counties/equivilant/cities don’t get tax money. Do you genuinely believe this, have you done any research, and are you happy to stick with this argument?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
WirelessGigabit 3y ago
It's because the feds actually don't have any sales tax. Sales tax is set at State level (unless you live in Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire or Oregon). Then the County you live in can levy a sales tax. This is to serve the people who live in unincorporated places. Lastly, Cities levy a sales tax. So yea, it really isn't that simple in the USA. Hell, how many countries do you know that have different income taxes based on where they live?
- rft 3y ago
  > So yea, it really isn't that simple in the USA. German VAT is also not simple. Before we had a temporary (so another layer of madness) law change, you either paid 19% VAT or 7% VAT, depending on whether you ordered your food to go or sat down at a restaurant. So the same item, for the same person would be taxed at a different rate depending on whether that person walks out with the food or carries it to a table. The restaurants simply advertise a single price and eat the difference [1]. Or to be more precise: the different tax values are priced into the single price, potentially accounting for the rough split between dine-in/takeout orders. Despite all of this madness, we see a single price at the menu, we can pay exactly that price, and for takeout it actually is not uncommon to actually pay exactly that price. No sales tax, mandatory surcharges or gratuity, just a single, final price. As for differences in the income needs of the counties/municipalities: this is handled with taxes on the profit of companies based in that area [2]. So the consumer never sees the differences in taxes, accounting is pushed to companies. If McD wants to advertise a fixed price nationwide, their franchisees need to eat the difference. I get that in the US the states are more like countries in the EU, but we still manage to have the same VAT in all of Germany while apparently US sales tax can vary on the city level. [1] there are exceptions, e.g. explicit to-go foods are advertised as such [2] there are more ways for this, but this is, IMO, the most similar way to the local sales tax in the US
- shortcake27 3y ago
  > So yea, it really isn't that simple in the USA It isn’t that simple in the USA. Yet it literally is that simple in every other country in the world. I don’t understand why the average American has such main character syndrome that they genuinely believe their country is so unique that they are unable to solve problems every other country in the world has solved. Ridiculous.
  - Zpalmtree 3y ago
    It's a feature not a bug that states can charge different sales tax rates..
  - carlosjobim 3y ago
    Do you understand what USA means? United States, it is a union of independent states. It's like you asking why all countries in the European Union doesn't have the same taxes or why all countries in Africa don't have the same taxes.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - moberley 3y ago
    Canada has a federal tax but in some provinces it is combined with the provincial sales tax and in other provinces there is a separate tax (or none in Alberta) so the USA is not the only federation with disparate tax regimes.
  - ars 3y ago
    Really? Taxes in France are exactly the same as in Switzerland? States in the US are analogous to countries in the rest of the world.
    - shortcake27 3y ago
      > States in the US are analogous to countries in the rest of the world. But they aren’t. States are states, it’s literally in the name. Almost all countries in the world have states or an analogy to states. Again, only an American would consider each of the United States as seperate countries. Totally disconnected from reality.

krallja 3y ago

If the federal government set the tax, the states and cities wouldn’t get any of it.

shortcake27 3y ago
So using your logic, in almost every other country in the world where sales tax is set at the federal level, states/counties/equivilant/cities don’t get tax money. Do you genuinely believe this, have you done any research, and are you happy to stick with this argument?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

WirelessGigabit 3y ago

It's because the feds actually don't have any sales tax. Sales tax is set at State level (unless you live in Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire or Oregon). Then the County you live in can levy a sales tax. This is to serve the people who live in unincorporated places. Lastly, Cities levy a sales tax. So yea, it really isn't that simple in the USA. Hell, how many countries do you know that have different income taxes based on where they live?

rft 3y ago
> So yea, it really isn't that simple in the USA. German VAT is also not simple. Before we had a temporary (so another layer of madness) law change, you either paid 19% VAT or 7% VAT, depending on whether you ordered your food to go or sat down at a restaurant. So the same item, for the same person would be taxed at a different rate depending on whether that person walks out with the food or carries it to a table. The restaurants simply advertise a single price and eat the difference [1]. Or to be more precise: the different tax values are priced into the single price, potentially accounting for the rough split between dine-in/takeout orders. Despite all of this madness, we see a single price at the menu, we can pay exactly that price, and for takeout it actually is not uncommon to actually pay exactly that price. No sales tax, mandatory surcharges or gratuity, just a single, final price. As for differences in the income needs of the counties/municipalities: this is handled with taxes on the profit of companies based in that area [2]. So the consumer never sees the differences in taxes, accounting is pushed to companies. If McD wants to advertise a fixed price nationwide, their franchisees need to eat the difference. I get that in the US the states are more like countries in the EU, but we still manage to have the same VAT in all of Germany while apparently US sales tax can vary on the city level. [1] there are exceptions, e.g. explicit to-go foods are advertised as such [2] there are more ways for this, but this is, IMO, the most similar way to the local sales tax in the US
shortcake27 3y ago
> So yea, it really isn't that simple in the USA It isn’t that simple in the USA. Yet it literally is that simple in every other country in the world. I don’t understand why the average American has such main character syndrome that they genuinely believe their country is so unique that they are unable to solve problems every other country in the world has solved. Ridiculous.
- Zpalmtree 3y ago
  It's a feature not a bug that states can charge different sales tax rates..
- carlosjobim 3y ago
  Do you understand what USA means? United States, it is a union of independent states. It's like you asking why all countries in the European Union doesn't have the same taxes or why all countries in Africa don't have the same taxes.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- moberley 3y ago
  Canada has a federal tax but in some provinces it is combined with the provincial sales tax and in other provinces there is a separate tax (or none in Alberta) so the USA is not the only federation with disparate tax regimes.
- ars 3y ago
  Really? Taxes in France are exactly the same as in Switzerland? States in the US are analogous to countries in the rest of the world.
  - shortcake27 3y ago
    > States in the US are analogous to countries in the rest of the world. But they aren’t. States are states, it’s literally in the name. Almost all countries in the world have states or an analogy to states. Again, only an American would consider each of the United States as seperate countries. Totally disconnected from reality.