If it moves tax it. If it doesn't move tax it anyway.....

Glad someone on the left can admit it.

Hillary was obviously speaking literally.

Ironically enough, her statement is actually fairly accurate. It probably would be a shorter list to come up with for the things that aren't taxed. Granted, or tax rates aren't as high as some countries, but there's still a lot of different taxes.

Can someone explain to me why you only pay tax at the checkout?

Here, any clothes / food etc that you see, they include tax, so that's the price you're going to pay. I remember being in America years back, thinking I'd gotten a load of cheap clothing, and then put it back, because once I got to the checkout, the price suddenly rose by loads. It just seems pointless and deceptive to me.

Yep, we are terribly over-taxed, and taxpayer dollars are perpetually misspent. I used to believe it was tolerated because the living was good. Over-taxation is always wrong but it's kinda hard to get worked up about it when you're living the high life. In other words things were bad but not bad enough to warrant action.

Then when things did get bad enough, somehow the problem turned into the solution for more than a few otherwise well meaning folks. The solution to over-taxation? More taxes. The US auto industry finally bottoms out after decades of offering inferior products at inflated prices? Give them billions of taxpayer dollars to remain in business. More than that, add a state funded incentive program "Cash for Clunkers!" People can't afford healthcare? Make it a public service subsidized by what? Yep, taxpayer dollars.

Mrs. Clinton is quite correct, in the US everything (regardless of motion) is taxed.

I think you've answered your own question.

btw - Over here every price ends with .99, is it the same in the UK?

Yep, they are trying to move away from that now.

I just assumed that you had some reason beyond deception as to why it was like that, I would have expected some consumer group to kick up a fuss about it - I'm pretty sure here it's law that you have to put the whole price on, instead of arbitarily adding at the till, because otherwise it's false advertising.

While the tax is uniform at the check out line I prefer the practice you're accustomed to seeing, the full price should be on the darn tag!

It's not deception, it's sensible business practice. We have 50 states with varying sales tax rates. We have no federal sales tax.

A $100 item in NY will cost $108.00. Everyone (except foreigners) in NY know they will pay 8% tax. The identical item in Flemington NJ will cost $100. No state sales tax in selected areas. The manufacturer sells to 50 states and uses a single price label of $100.

A retailer could spend all day adding the tax on every item, but that has never been our custom in the US, and customers already know that they'll be hit with sales taxes at the register. Plus, the US has always been a bit parochial and is barely aware that non-US people shop here too, so I understand that it might seem deceptive, but it's laziness and custom more than anything else.

Also, sometime sales tax rates change, in NY e..g, we also have county sales tax - which gets very very messy -

http://ny.rand.org/stats/govtfin/salestax.html

Area Rate
New York State 4.000
Albany 8.000
Allegany 8.500
Broome 8.000
Cattaraugus 8.000
Cayuga 8.000
Chautauqua 7.750
Chemung 8.000
Chenango 8.000
Clinton 8.000
Columbia 8.000
Cortland 8.000
Delaware 8.000
*Dutchess 8.125
Erie 8.750
Essex 7.750
Franklin 8.000
Fulton 8.000
Genesee 8.000
Greene 8.000
Hamilton 7.000
Herkimer 8.250
Jefferson 7.750
Lewis 7.750
Livingston 8.000
Madison 8.000
Monroe 8.000
Montgomery 8.000
*Nassau 8.625
*New York City 8.375


Some local fast-food stores or burger joints will quote a grossed up price that includes the tax, bake sales at the local high school, girl scout cookies sold door to door, but these are exceptions.

There are no sales taxes in Oregon.

There is no Income Tax in Washington.

Live and work in Vancouver, shop and go out in Portland. Win-Win!

We have:

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax),
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax),
Liquor Tax,
Marriage License Tax,
Medicare Tax,
Property Tax,
Real Estate Tax,
Social Security Tax,
Road Usage Tax (Truckers),
Recreational Vehicle Tax,
Sales Taxes,
School Tax,
State Income Tax,
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA),
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax,
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax,
Telephone State and Local Tax,
Telephone Usage Charge Tax,
Utility Tax,
Vehicle License Registration Tax,
Vehicle Sales Tax,
Watercraft Registration Tax,
Well Permit Tax,
Workers Compensation Tax.

Among others.

Oh, I forgot: some localities have County Sales Tax, City Sales Tax, Motel Tax, and Restaurant Tax tacked on top of State Sales Tax.

It's also an issue when you transfer stock to another retail outlet with a different tax rate. Having to reprice everything at the receiving end is far too labor intensive. It's much easier to simply tack any applicable tax on at the register.

Not relative to any other industrialised country, you aren't.

Socialist or Capitalist?

Yep... or e-commerce... or just plain ordering something from the Sears and Roebuck Catalog.

Any other first-world country.

So, what, Stalin was a good guy compared to Hitler and Pol Pot?

One of the stupidest things you've said in a while. Nice job.

That excludes the US then. We're in transition from first-world capitalism to third world socialism.

32000 posts!

Nice.

There's a point at which higher tax rates results in a smaller amount of total tax taken in. They get away with it because of asinine and bullshit 'accumulation around the mean' argument made by henry up at post 16. It's a foolish argument, but it works on a lot of people.

E.g., I don't pay cigarette taxes since 10 years ago when they hiked tax per pack to over 4$. (or that would be true if I was a criminal and I smoked). That's thousands and thousands of lost tax because NY got too fuckin greedy. Before they became gross, I paid my ciggie taxes along with everyone else.

Example 2, I pay much less in income tax this year because I turned away business worth around $50k gross to me - the IRS/fedgov gets zero instead of bloodsucking what would've been around an extra $20k (adding all the payroll, state and federal income, FICA, social security ad naseum). If possible, I look for a way to barter, like giving free legal advice in exchange for free services that I need/want (which I of course would only do if I were a criminal).

So, I decided to sit on ass because the extra 30k in the bank wasnt worth the idea of giving the Scumbag Motherfucker in Chief mo' money to piss away on liberal causes that imo have no worthwhile return. I would have a very different attitude if I believed my government spent my money responsibly. (or maybe I would less often look for ways to trade services 'off the books', which of course I would never do unless I were a criminal).

Example 3, NYS just added another income-based tax with a special new form that a lot people may miss this year and will piss - in the last 5 year NYS has seen a net outflow 1.5 million people to other states. Plus the ones who left were richer (on average) than their replacments. NY is going to be doubly fucked by the financial meltdown as its tax kitty evaporates into fat-blind air.


Example 4, from my cell phone bill, under the heading: Taxes:
Fed'l Universal Service Fund
State Gross Receipts Tx
State Sales Tax
State Telecom Excise
County Sales
County Surcharge
MCTD Surcharge
State 911
County 911

I'm not making that list up.

The only downside is big-ticket items. If you buy a car in Portland, you have to prove you are an Oregonian.

Well, that and that you're living in the 'Couv.

Without an objective comparison to similar countries, claiming that the country is "over-taxed" is just mindless whinging about not liking taxes. Boo fucking whoo.

You can of course keep your voodoo economics. It didn't work like that when Reagan cut taxes after using the same argument.

Tuttle you hit 3,200 yourself.

Did too. Big time.

A smaller tax rate, means a bigger pie, means more money for fedgov to piss away.

Then Bush, and then Clinton immediately started piling on taxes along with the feckless and irresponsible states. And Reagan's cuts weren't really enough to begin with. Fedgov should be able to survive on max 20% income tax rate and some user fees for everything else, we'd be a much much fatter country all around (fat in a good way).

Tax reciepts fell following Reagans tax cuts. Then he increased spending by borrowing.

^Son, if you even had an iota of a hint of clue of what you were talking about I might continue this dialogue.

You've probabaly noticed that usually I'm very civil and respectful to you (among the stupidest lefties on WF you are singular and unique in this regard) - in explanation I should mention it's because you've been to me a kind of retarded charity case.

But I'm on some severe pain meds and I see no purpose to harsh my buzz talking to an idgit. Any time I showed even a hint of respect for what you said I was basically pulling an 'Obama.'

Not really. It's just that instead of each item being taxed, the sales tax you pay is based on the total amount of the sale. It's always a percentage of the sub-total, so they never know what the tax will be until everything is added up. Here in North Dakota the typical tax rate is 6%, though each of the larger towns tends to have a slightly higher rate for various city pet projects.