Stephen Sprunk wrote:
On 22-Jan-12 10:26, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Graeme Wall wrote:

Handling cash has quite a high cost as well, again, ultimately paid by
the consumers.

Cash has the extreme advantage of being intended as a universal purchase
medium so you DON'T need a credit bank or consumer identification card
or badge, unique to each merchant, that represents a credit card.

What are you talking about? Major payment cards are accepted by
thousands, if not millions, of merchants all over the world. They are
arguably more universal than cash, which is mostly limited to a single
country or group of countries.

Nothing prevents you from turning any comment into an argument, does
it, Stephen. Your statement is nonsense, of course, and actually wrong,
not arguably wrong.

wrote:
On 22/01/2012 21:52, Stephen Sprunk wrote:

There's also the time it takes to count the customer's money and, if
applicable, make change. This is particularly bad in the US since taxes
are not included in the price, so the total due is rarely known before
the order is rung up.

Why is that, I wonder? I think that is also the case with the GST and
PST in Canada.

Here in many (if not all) parts of Europe, the price that you pay for
something already has relevant taxes figured in.

Yet here in the United States, when prices for airline travel and hotel
rooms are stated, they included taxes. In Europe, travel prices are
more often stated without all taxes included.

Motor fuel prices are stated with all taxes included.

John Levine wrote:

I would be very surprised to hear of any European country where retail
prices for non-trade customers are quoted net of tax. ...

That's because VAT is standard across a country. In the US there are
thousands of taxing districts in every state, each with it's own adder
to the base rate.

That's not really the case. Some states have lots of tax districts,
e.g. here in New York where every county and many cities set their
own sales tax rate. But some states like Vermont have a single rate
for the whole state, and some like New Hampshire and Delaware have no
sales tax at all. For prices in stores, everything in the store is taxed
at the same rate, but those prices are quoted net of tax, too.

My state has both numerous sales tax rates, thanks to the concept of home
rule sales taxes that certain municipalities and one county can impose and,
unlike Texas, no maximum sales tax cap. Also, different goods have different
applicable sales tax rates. Also, newspapers and periodicals are not taxed
for single-copy sales, although books are taxed.

My understanding is that most prices in the US are quoted net of tax
for purely political reasons, that the tax sceptics in the legislature
want everyone to be aware of what the tax rate is, and how much the
state is collecting.

I see nothing contrary about giving the consumer actual useful information
about how his bill breaks down.

Stephen Sprunk wrote:

And then there's Congress's Internet sales tax moratorium, so the same
product ordered by the same buyer from the same seller may by taxed if
the order was by phone or mail but not if online.

You misstated that. State sales taxes are collected on in-state sales;
there is no federal jurisdiction to impose a moratorium. Use taxes are
levied on interstate sales. These are not collected by the merchant,
but levied directly on the buyer. There's really no federal issue at all,
unless Congress imposes a national sales tax.

In message , at 13:52:10 on Mon, 23 Jan
2012, Adam H. Kerman remarked:
Here in many (if not all) parts of Europe, the price that you pay for
something already has relevant taxes figured in.

Yet here in the United States, when prices for airline travel and hotel
rooms are stated, they included taxes. In Europe, travel prices are
more often stated without all taxes included.

Travel itself doesn't have any "sales tax", although some airlines dress
up various items like airport and security fees as "tax and charges".
But so do USA airlines.

Many hotels in tourist spots have a "surprise" city tourist/hotel tax,
but not in the UK.
--
Roland Perry

Stephen Sprunk wrote:
John Levine wrote:

Many states claim that residents of their state have to pay sales tax on
products shipped by a seller in another state, whereas AFAIK no state
taxes products shipped to a buyer another state.

You confuse "sales tax" and "use tax". It violates the interstate commerce
clause of the federal constitution for one state to impose a sales tax on
a seller in another state. They get around it by imposing a use tax on a
buyer of a good from outside the state.

If the seller is in the same state as the buyer, the buyer's rate applies
to shipped orders, not the seller's rate.

You are making an inapplicable universal statement. What sales tax rate
applies varies from state to state.

And then there's Congress's Internet sales tax moratorium, so the same
product ordered by the same buyer from the same seller may by taxed if
the order was by phone or mail but not if online.

Again you are confusing sales taxes with use taxes.

We will leave as an exercise for the student why prices for gasoline
are invariably quoted gross, with all taxes included.

Excise taxes, eg. on motor fuels, are usually included in the price, but
sales taxes are not. Most states exempt products from sales tax if
subject to a specific excise tax, but some don't.

John Levine offered an observation of the tradition of stating a price
inclusive of all taxes on motor fuel sales. As sales taxes are a type of
excise tax, you failed to offer an explanation as to why the convention
exists.

My state imposes sales taxes and motor fuel excise taxes on motor fuel
sales. Is my state in the majority or minority for imposing multiple
excise taxes on motor fuel sales? I have no idea for I haven't looked
it up. You probably didn't either.

Neil Williams wrote:
On Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:14:58 -0700, Robert Neville wrote:

That's because VAT is standard across a country. In the US there are
thousands of taxing districts in every state, each with it's own adder
to the base rate.

Presumably only one applies to any given shop?

Different sales tax rates apply to different goods in my state. Also, in
my state, newspapers and magazines are not taxed. It's really obnoxious
to impose all these high sales tax collection costs on merchants.

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

On the other hand, the Swiss will accept ludicrously high
denomination banknotes without turning a hair.

Yes, the SFr 1000 note is a rare but amazing sight!

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message , at 14:16:04 on Mon, 23 Jan
2012, Adam H. Kerman remarked:

As sales taxes are a type of excise tax

Excise taxes are usually "per quantity", such as "per gallon of
gasoline", "per packet of cigarettes"; whereas a sales tax is a
percentage of the sale price.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
at 14:16:04 on Mon, 23 Jan 2012, Adam H. Kerman remarked:

As sales taxes are a type of excise tax

Excise taxes are usually "per quantity", such as "per gallon of
gasoline", "per packet of cigarettes"; whereas a sales tax is a
percentage of the sale price.

Both.

There is a new 10% excise tax on indoor tanning service.

There are federal gallonage taxes on gasoline for highway, $.184, and
aviation, $.194, amounts that haven't been changed in a couple of decades.