7 ms·

Yes, because my IP address doesn't give them a way to calculate tentative taxes? My IP can be used to serve me ads, but not serve me actually relevant informati

• crazygringo 2y ago
  Correct, it doesn't. IP geolocation is nowhere near precise enough. Remember, sales tax isn't something big like state-level. It's literally town-level, including tiny towns. Two sides of the same street can have a different sales tax. Not to mention all the extra rules, such as individual clothing items under $110 being exempt in New York.
  • websap 2y ago
    I will take the blurb which says taxes are an approximate calculation based on web browsing data available, vs, no taxes shown. We're gate keeping good features for large % of users over some edge cases.
    • crazygringo 2y ago
      Gate keeping what? You know where you live, you know what your local sales tax is. The current system works fine.
      • lxgr 2y ago
        It works ok-ish. It works significantly better in almost every other country in the world. Yay for status quo bias! > You know where you live, you know what your local sales tax is. No, I in fact don't know, because I have better things to do than to keep up with what my city and state have extended sales tax to this month, what carveouts exist ("no sales tax on unhealthy snacks except ice cream" and stuff like that) etc. And there is absolutely no excuse for in-person stores that do, in fact, have perfect a priori knowledge of all of this.
    • Alupis 2y ago
      Or, just get rid of sales tax anyway. It is the 2nd or 3rd time the same money has been taxed, depending on how you view it, and it's pretty ridiculous that a person with $100 in their bank account (post-taxes) still does not have the equivalent of $100 of purchasing power.
      • mulmen 2y ago
        It’s the transaction that is taxed, not the money. By your logic I shouldn’t have to pay income tax on sales because my customers already paid income tax. We could simply the whole thing by just making dollar bills worth $0.66.
        • Alupis 2y ago
          > By your logic I shouldn’t have to pay income tax on sales because my customers already paid income tax. People often believe that because something has been for a while, it must always be so. Not too long ago we didn't have sales tax (introduced in the 1950's), and things were fine. You are taxed on your income, and you are taxed on your expenses. If you invest that money or do anything productive with it, it gets taxed again. That's such a ridiculous idea - pick one and stick with it. Make it whatever percentage it needs to be, and that's it. When someone looks at their bank account - that ought to be the final word on how much purchasing power that individual has. It shouldn't be handwavy minus 7-12%. Mind you, that's 7-12% in addition to the 20-30% you already paid.
          • mulmen 2y ago
            Only the income on the investment is taxed though. The capital isn’t double taxed. I’d love to abolish regressive sales taxes and return to 1950s level progressive income tax rates. You have my vote.
            • Alupis 2y ago
              Progressive income tax is also silly. Just because you earn more money than someone else doesn't mean you derive more benefits from the government. The idea of "Paying what you can afford" is BS everywhere it's been implemented - from school tuition to soccer camp to taxes. Everyone feels burned and like the "others" aren't paying what they should be. Federal taxes should be a flat percentage, no deductions, no credits, no so-called "loop holes"... nothing. Every citizen pays the same percentage (whatever it needs to be). The incumbent tax apparatus would never allow us to have something so simple, though. For a nation that got it's start in no small part due to being over-taxed, it's very interesting to see just how much tax shenanigans we tolerate today.
    • mulmen 2y ago
      So currently they correctly advertise the pre-tax price but since that’s not the correct total price your proposal is to display an approximate price which is also not the correct total price. I don’t see how this reduces ambiguity.
      • websap 2y ago
        A higher price is more accurate than the pretax price
        • deleted 2y ago
          [deleted]
        • mulmen 2y ago
          > A higher price is more accurate than the pretax price Well, no, it isn’t. Consider the Oregon/Washington border. An IP could bounce around there. Oregon has zero sales tax so the pre-tax price is literally correct for Oregon residents. Adding estimated tax will be less accurate. Similarly I could live in unincorporated King County such as White Center and not be subject to Seattle tax while still being subject to King County and Washington tax even though the other side of the street is Seattle. There’s a sugary drink tax in Seattle. The border is Roxbury. There’s a 7/11 on Roxbury in White Center. Should a 7/11 sandwich board on the Seattle side of the street across from that 7/11 advertise the price with or without that tax?
      • lxgr 2y ago
        It's gonna be a much better ballpark number than the before-tax number is in almost all practical scenarios. So yes, I do think that would be a massive win compared to the status quo.
        • mulmen 2y ago
          Unless you live on the border of Oregon or Montana. Or in a city.
          • 2y ago
  • tokioyoyo 2y ago
    It somehow works almost anywhere outside of NA? It's really not a crazy concept - estimate it based on geolocation and say "more exact will be available once you enter your address". The problem is, that genuinely negatively affect the sales because people see the true price of things.
    • mulmen 2y ago
      > It somehow works almost anywhere outside of NA? Is North America unique in allowing local municipalities to set their own taxes? > It's really not a crazy concept - estimate it based on geolocation and say "more exact will be available once you enter your address". That’s exactly what happens now, except the advertised price is actually correct instead of an “estimate”. I have an intuitive sense for local tax. How can I know what method was used to compute this estimated price?
      • tokioyoyo 2y ago
        Out of my head, if I recall correctly, Australia, Japan, Denmark do local municipal taxes as well (some are more flat than others). Anyways, all I was saying that it's a solved UX problem, and the reason why you're not getting full price is because A/B testing has shown that when customers see the complete price, they get a shock and less likely to buy the item. This doesn't have much to do with websites caring about some edge cases that they'll somehow won't be able to give out exact price to you. In the worst case, the shopping websites could ask you to enter your postal code and show all prices with the tax included price.
        • mulmen 2y ago
          So are estimated prices being advertised in Australia, Japan, or Denmark? Why is North America uniquely susceptible to A/B testing? Municipal taxes are not an edgecase in the United States at least. They’re very much the norm, especially in telecommunications.
          • tokioyoyo 2y ago
  • ewoodrich 2y ago
    Yep, where I currently live based on IP geolocation I would be quoted incorrect state sales tax 100% of the time. Though it's sort of the perfect geography to be problematic (Vancouver, WA side of the greater Portland, OR metro area spanning a sales tax/no sales tax state boundary).
    • rascul 2y ago
      I live in Mississippi and my geo ip used to say New York City.
• deleted 2y ago
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