Had a great conversation offline that I really wanted to share here, since we have some really bright members and I like seeing everyone's different point of view. It's whether or not the sales tax should be added into the advertised price. I don't it should be. The advertised price is what the company is selling it's product for, the tax is something the government has added. It's just the retailer is forced to collect the tax on behalf of the government, that's why they add it on after the fact. Thoughts?
In the US I do find it annoying that you have to figure out the tax on items, so sometimes you can't have the exact money. Not all items are taxed the same as some food items are exempt. In the UK, VAT (Value Added Tax) is included in the price so the price you see is the price you pay. Tourists can claim back the tax, so they still pay it, then claim it back in the store or in customs. I think it's much better to do it this way so people who are good at calculating know how much the real cost is. However in the US some states don't have tax and some have tax free weekends, so on a website that would be harder as the tax rates are different. In store I think it would be easier to add the tax on the store labels, but as many stores use the same tags across states, it would be too expensive. In that respect it would make it impractical and cost effective to keep the tax off the price tag, but only from a business point of view.
I don't think it should be added. I also think that every retailer should do it that way for the sake of uniformity..........fpr the sake of the consumer. So they know what the deal is when they go shopping for the sake of their budget.
I much prefer the way things are in the UK. Every time I've visited the US, I've always forgotten about the tax and had a shock when the cashier rings it all up. It's just what we are used to though and I can see the advantages of using the US method of price tagging.
There are some places that will post a sign saying the tax is included in the listed price, but I don't think it's very common. It is so nice when they do that though because then you don't have to think about how much is added onto the price to figure out what you are actually paying. In my town we have a tax on prepared food. There are a few restaurants that do the calculating for you and then post the price, tax included. I really appreciate that they do that for you.
I know when I was visiting Washington state, I was somehow either not required to pay the state tax portion, or given that portion of what I had paid back, after my friend advised me that since I wasn't a resident, I didn't have to pay that. I don't know if everywhere does that, or if it's specific to Washington state, or exactly how it works.
