Tell me about taxation in America

[Spectre_nz]

So, recently on internet news forums and so such, I’ve seen more and more of an ‘inside view’ of sorts as to reactions to taxation in American, particularly after that guy that wasn’t a Muslim flew a plane that he hadn’t hijacked into a building that wasn’t a skyscraper in New York.

And my impression was; at least a portion of Americans thinks tax in America is deeply unfair. This portion seems much larger and much more vocal than here in NZ, or in other countries.

So I did a little looking and found that, in comparison to where I am, New Zealand, American income tax is lower than here. Coupled with the fact that; 1) American tax brackets are much wider than ours and 2) American incomes are significantly higher than those in NZ, Americans get a greater amount of money to start with and keep quite a lot more of it than us in NZ.
Not only that but the top American rates are now much lower than they’ve been in other decades.

But; America is the country with the long and oft times militant history of tax protest and tax avoidance.

I will probably be bored to tears with an extensive delve into tax law, but if someone could explain a little more of the American system that’d be handy.

My assumptions for why anti-taxation sentiment appears so much more popular over in the US came down to;

A) The tax collection system is inefficient and mired in bureaucracy.
Every employer I’ve had and I presume, the bulk of New Zealand employers are part of a system that automatically deducts your income tax and passes it on to IRD. You don’t ever get it. Your employer pays 33% or whatever % directly to the IRD each pay day, you get the rest.
Is this the same in the US? Or is there some laborious system where you have to put aside money any pay your own taxes on a regular basis?

B) The layers of State and federal taxes are various and numerous and generally irritate the bejesus out of everyone, even though their magnitude isn’t so great.
In NZ we have a flat GST tax of 12.5% on all goods and services, similar to VAT in the UK. Every product, everywhere gets the same flat application (Aside from a few exemptions like 'duty free' at airports, and a number of produts that get a duty slapped on them; alcohol, fuel and cigaretts particularly) . Minimal confusion.

C) The American political climate has concentrated a larger number of right-ist individuals who are more opposed to taxation than compared to NZ, and these people protest taxation on the basis of principle, rather than the economic realities that widespread reduction or removal of taxation will probably bankrupt the country and the political inversion required to even try libertarianism will probably just break things faster, ignoring the fact that libertarianism is probably just going to break things anyway.

or
D) America, once again, has a monopoly of belligerent idiots.

So, umm, yeah. Can anyone on the inside give me their take on how tax works (or doesn’t) in the US?

[Ghost Rider]

That's because Congress writes the taxes and change it ...every...single...year. Sometimes during the year you are to do them. With some new rule that makes no sense.

On the very base level taxes are done this way

How are you paid? Self Employed or standard W-2.

Your employer or yourself have to figure what is considered witholding.

You are then given by the IRS what is called a standard deduction.

Then you take your exemption level.

That number is compared against your witholding, which then determines a refund or payment. You can offset a payment by either a special dispensation from the government, paying the IRS estimated payments, or a mistake on how much is being taken out for Social Security amongst other things.

You either get refund/pay IRS.

Anymore enters a far larger territory of possiblities and complications. A lot of regular people have problems stemming from new income sources, changes in tax laws, and/or inaccurate tracking of their own funds, and lastly inaccurate assessment of their status.

[Spectre_nz]

That sounds essentially the same as our income tax system. We fill out a form, pay a standard deduction, can claim back tax on certain expendature and children.
We haven't got property tax however. And tax structure doesn't change all that often. The exact rates wobble around a bit.

Maybe because I've never tried to claim deductions I've got a rosey view of things.
Plus taxation just runs seemlessly in the background. Taxes on goods are included in the price. The one time I was in the US/Canada I was a little thrown by the whole 'marked price does not include tax' thing...

However IRD collects infomation here they seem to do it rather well; they seem to figure out when you owe them money pretty quickly.

[Ghost Rider]

That sounds essentially the same as our income tax system. We fill out a form, pay a standard deduction, can claim back tax on certain expendature and children.
We haven't got property tax however. And tax structure doesn't change all that often. The exact rates wobble around a bit.

Property tax is a state by state affair, which can be average to insane(a good example of such is that Texas has no state income tax but an absolute monstrous property tax).

Maybe because I've never tried to claim deductions I've got a rosey view of things.
Plus taxation just runs seemlessly in the background. Taxes on goods are included in the price. The one time I was in the US/Canada I was a little thrown by the whole 'marked price does not include tax' thing...

The odd parts are because of State taxes which can be both simpler and far uglier. On a basic level Sales tax is based on what the states feel that what is for cost of goods. I know more then a few people from other countries look at the differences of states as an insane thing.

For 90% of americans? Taxes just happen, and one particular is there are ways of having it done professionally and free. Personally it is why I despise H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt(Hell...my mentor knows the man who created Jackson Hewitt), but my dislike of those two are based in they do not know, willingly lie and lead people to believe taxes are some mystically insane art.

If your taxes are so complex that you cannot read a 1040 and understand why the numbers add up, get a professional. The 1040 does state what goes where and why, and the IRS are very upfront of what to do. The states have some oddball laws, but if you believe something is possible you can always call and ask, and the average state form is very easy. Though I will give this...some states aren't even easy even if you only have a single wage earner. Ohio is a particularly fucked up one.

However IRD collects infomation here they seem to do it rather well; they seem to figure out when you owe them money pretty quickly.

So does the IRS, in fact they are actually nice about it...unless you're actually in their face. Most of the times when I hear of some story of a woman claiming "I cannot do/pay this!" I ask myself of whether she actually called said agent. While some can be testy, most do work with people. They know the stigma behind their jobs and more then anyone are the last to want to be viewed as the boogeyman. Except the assholes who revel in it.

[TimothyC]

Though I will give this...some states aren't even easy even if you only have a single wage earner. Ohio is a particularly fucked up one.

Ohio can be ok, IF you don't have anything other than a single or stack of W-2s. It took me the better part of a year to get them to stop trying to get me to pay various corporate taxes that I didn't owe.

[Andrew J.]

Our culture is a factor, I think. After all, the USA got its freedom after it got fed up with paying unfair and tyrannical taxes to that callous bastard at Buckingham Palace.

The truth is much more complicated than that, of course, but it's easy for people who complain about taxes to invoke our national heroes by repeating that narrative with Buckingham Palace switched out for Washington/Capitol Hill/The White House.

[Ghost Rider]

Though I will give this...some states aren't even easy even if you only have a single wage earner. Ohio is a particularly fucked up one.

Ohio can be ok, IF you don't have anything other than a single or stack of W-2s. It took me the better part of a year to get them to stop trying to get me to pay various corporate taxes that I didn't owe.

Yeah, Ohio when you only have W-2s...is fine, kind of. It still has some extraneous fucked up county shit still that doesn't plague other states. And their military and residental laws are fucking hilarious. Took them long enough to do something of the military out of state law.

But out of state shit, still drives me up the wall. Of the states I despise doing, only Mass...is worse. California is just fucked in the head but rather straight forward when approached. Pennsylvania on the other hand...is like Ohio kooky grandfather. Not as bad, but equally fucked in the strangest areas.

[Raw Shark]

A) The tax collection system is inefficient and mired in bureaucracy.
Every employer I’ve had and I presume, the bulk of New Zealand employers are part of a system that automatically deducts your income tax and passes it on to IRD. You don’t ever get it. Your employer pays 33% or whatever % directly to the IRD each pay day, you get the rest.
Is this the same in the US? Or is there some laborious system where you have to put aside money any pay your own taxes on a regular basis?

Depends. Most regular wage slaves can do it the easy way, but I get to spend upwards of an entire business day doing a stack of paperwork and cough up a couple of big checks every year because I run my own business. I also get to pay twice as much for Social Security (which won't exist by the time I'm old enough to collect). It's really the only thing that fucking sucks about being your own boss.

B) The layers of State and federal taxes are various and numerous and generally irritate the bejesus out of everyone, even though their magnitude isn’t so great.
In NZ we have a flat GST tax of 12.5% on all goods and services, similar to VAT in the UK. Every product, everywhere gets the same flat application (Aside from a few exemptions like 'duty free' at airports, and a number of produts that get a duty slapped on them; alcohol, fuel and cigaretts particularly) . Minimal confusion.

The procedures (and rates) are actually relatively reasonable here in Colorado, but other states differ as noted previously. Savvy investors, consumers, etc can sometimes navigate the complexities to their advantage, such as in the New England region where six small states within easy driving distance of one another have wild variations in their sales and property taxes.

C) The American political climate has concentrated a larger number of right-ist individuals who are more opposed to taxation than compared to NZ, and these people protest taxation on the basis of principle, rather than the economic realities that widespread reduction or removal of taxation will probably bankrupt the country and the political inversion required to even try libertarianism will probably just break things faster, ignoring the fact that libertarianism is probably just going to break things anyway.

D) America, once again, has a monopoly of belligerent idiots.

No arguments here. There was a recent N&P thread here about what happens when these douchebags get what they wish for, in Denver's southern neighbor Colorado Springs where they are currently laying off some of the Police and shutting down every third street light because nobody wanted to pay their taxes and they successfully exercised their constitutionally-given, democratic right to be dumber than a box of hair.

[Liberty]

Our culture is a factor, I think. After all, the USA got its freedom after it got fed up with paying unfair and tyrannical taxes to that callous bastard at Buckingham Palace.

This. The country was fucking founded because some rich aristocrats got tired of paying taxes!

Also, we didn't have income tax until around a hundred years ago, and we actually had to change the constitution to institute it. Lots of conspiracy nuts discuss that all the time. For instance, the president at the time was from Ohio, but it was discovered in 1953 that Ohio had never officially been granted statehood (Ohio actually re-petitioned for statehood in 1953, and was granted it), so he wasn't actually a citizen, so the change was invalid. Oh yes. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea ... s-ratified. But I digress.

I would say that it is important for those who are not Americans to understand that America has an anti-government ethos ingrained in it, as well as a huge huge belief in individual rights. What do you think the crap about health care has been? The idea of sacrificing individual rights for the good of the whole or of letting the government run social programs to help those in need scares the shit out of half the country. The right wing literally thinks that the smaller the government is, the better off the country is. Is it any wonder they bitch about paying taxes?

[ShadowDragon8685]

To answer the OP, I would say it's a combination of:

1: Lack of education.
1a: Particularly, most Americans are dumber than rocks when it comes to financial matters. They are quite cheerfully led to believe that finances are an arcane art that require a robe and wizard hat to understand, and that the average person should not attmept to delve their depths. This suits the corporate interests just fine, as people who don't truely understand anything more complex than "pay out paper or swipe the plastic" inasmuch as it comes to purchasing things (and who will question the authenticity of a $2 bill or a $.50 or $1 coin when presented with them) have no hope of understanding the arcane financial shell games they use to zap them with all the "gotcha" fees they love to use. Unfortunately, this lack of education extends to a lack of understanding of the taxes as well, and people fear that which they don't understand.

I think we all remember the Jedi Master's words on where fear leads. If you don't, GTFO of Stardestroyer.net.

1b: Americans in particular are also not remotely educated in any sort of sense of civic duty. In place of an actual education about civic matters such as social good, the greater good, the social contract, and how government exists to perform things that no private citizen has the means to do and no corporate interest will do (such as maintain roadways,) we simply prefer to instill in our youngsters a sense of false patriotism by indoctrinating them to worship the flag, those who wear the uniform of our soldiery, and that (most ironically) questioning or challenging authority is as close to treasonous as is possible without being outright treason, and is pretty much the equavilent of secular heresy.

2: Misguided education compounds the problems of 1: In America, you won't hear the words "social contract" until college-level education at the minimum. And they always harp on the "taxation" part of "taxation without representation," instead of the "representation" part. As I was taught, (once I got to college-level education, anyway,) it was the other way 'round; those who started off angry and belligerant at the Crown did not object to paying taxes (although I'm sure a lot of the rich folks did,) but they objected to the fact that the King was in violation of the Magna Carta in taxing Englishmen (them; they considered themselves Englishmen,) without them having any seated representatives in the House of Commons. Arguments that they were "virtually represented" were considered to be manure of the stinkiest order.

Then some wanker came along and pointed out that the American continent had far more of everything than the rest of the British Empire had of anything, and that if the British were going to stuff them over, they should just take their lands and leave the Empire. Cue the Revoloutionary War; but all of this gets buried under social studies teachers harping about how the colonists were rebelling against an unfair and unjust burden of taxation.

3: America has a huge amount of righttardedness that, I think, mostly stems from the civil war; when the Federal Government decided to enact sweeping changes that would negatively impact the lives of the wealthy in the South, the South decided to take it's ball and leave, too. This time the rebels lost, were forced back into the fold, and their slaves were forcibly liberated. This infuriated the south, obstructionist assholes they'd always been, and in the North people got upset that Washington not only wanted to free the black man (thus preventing slave labor from being economically superior to wage-paid free whites,) but also wanted to give the black man the same rights as white (which they objected to for some ridiculous reason.)

In the North, this war is called the Civil War, though there was definitely nothing civil about it, and we're taught that it was about freeing the slaves and thus, was a just and righteous, if tragic, war. In the South, they call it the War of Northern Aggression, and they're taught that it was all about imposing the will of Washington on the South; that's a powerful and dangerous message to teach young people: it teaches them that government is quite literally an enemy that will raise an army, kill you and your brothers, and sack your hometown.

4: America has a vast wealth of belligerant morons who are ill-educated, predisposed to be angry at the "gubmint," who object to paying anything, and don't understand the real reasons for the causes they espouse, so they simply repeat party lines and get angry at the show-reasons, such as taxation.


It doesn't help that there's at minimum 51 tax codes in the country: the Federal taxes and all 50 states' taxes plus those of any non-state territories such as Guam or D.C., or those taxxes any locality you may reside within have levvied.

[Master of Ossus]

My assumptions for why anti-taxation sentiment appears so much more popular over in the US came down to;

A) The tax collection system is inefficient and mired in bureaucracy.
Every employer I’ve had and I presume, the bulk of New Zealand employers are part of a system that automatically deducts your income tax and passes it on to IRD. You don’t ever get it. Your employer pays 33% or whatever % directly to the IRD each pay day, you get the rest.
Is this the same in the US? Or is there some laborious system where you have to put aside money any pay your own taxes on a regular basis?

With essentially meaningless exceptions (e.g., for people who are self-employed small-business owners), this is the same as our system.

B) The layers of State and federal taxes are various and numerous and generally irritate the bejesus out of everyone, even though their magnitude isn’t so great.
In NZ we have a flat GST tax of 12.5% on all goods and services, similar to VAT in the UK. Every product, everywhere gets the same flat application (Aside from a few exemptions like 'duty free' at airports, and a number of produts that get a duty slapped on them; alcohol, fuel and cigaretts particularly) . Minimal confusion.

The US allows states to regulate this (who, in turn, sometimes but usually don't pass it on to counties). The US sales tax is generally considered a nightmare by scholars, but empirically it doesn't matter so much. Other states use property taxes, which is also bizarre, because the Federal government provides massive tax-incentives for people to own their own homes which leads to more complexity but not much difference, IMO, in substance except to subsidize home-ownership.

At least in the US system, I've had situations where I've been taxed 30% of my total income, one year, and 15% the next, even when I was working the same job and doing the same things, because seemingly random and irrelevant things happened in my life in the interim.

C) The American political climate has concentrated a larger number of right-ist individuals who are more opposed to taxation than compared to NZ, and these people protest taxation on the basis of principle, rather than the economic realities that widespread reduction or removal of taxation will probably bankrupt the country and the political inversion required to even try libertarianism will probably just break things faster, ignoring the fact that libertarianism is probably just going to break things anyway.

or
D) America, once again, has a monopoly of belligerent idiots.

So, umm, yeah. Can anyone on the inside give me their take on how tax works (or doesn’t) in the US?

These are possible. In my mind, it comes down to the fact that the US Tax Code is so complex and difficult to parse that you have no idea why you're ultimately taxed at the level at which you're taxed. You just plug the figures into a computer that says you owe $X. I also don't know anyone--liberal or conservative--who honestly tells me that they feel like they got their money's worth when they paid it to the US government. I'm sure the sentiment is similar in other countries, but in ones that don't have the same esteem for values like self-determinism.

You're also only comparing simplistic things like tax rates and income brackets, which completely misses the actual tax burden on citizens in various countries. Something like mean tax rates might be better (that shows how much the average person actually pays, as a fraction of income, and ironically suggests American individual tax rates are roughly 40% higher than New Zealand's, albeit not as high as taxes in many other countries). A big part of the difference which you missed, perhaps because New Zealand has no comparable tax, is the fact that all working Americans pay payroll taxes (Social Security, Medicare)--which for the vast majority of American workers are another ~17% of wages, in addition to income tax which covers all income, and you've ignored things like the corporate tax which applies to certain investments (and which, I believe, every country at least nominally charges but in varying amounts) and the corporate distributions tax, which in the US takes another gouge out of investment earnings but which doesn't get nearly as much political flak as payroll and income and sales taxes.

Realistically you have to think hard about how you're comparing tax codes because they're vastly more complex than the base rate and typically include all manner of credits, deductions, penalties, and even more exotic minutiae that cannot realistically be captured, even independent of their effect on human behavior (e.g., if you give me a substantial deduction for owning my own home, I will tend to try buy one, even if I normally wouldn't). I don't think there's any consensus, even at a scholarly level, for instance, as to the overall incidence of things like the US corporate tax vis-a-vis the incidence of the corporate tax in other countries. You can score a lot of rhetorical points for almost any position you'd like on the issue.

[Eldalote]

One quick thing I'd like to add before I'm off to class.
One thing struck me as rather odd and iritating when I was on holyday in the states: Taxes not included on prices of products.
I can immagine that this makes taxes a lot more visible, and a lot more iritating. When I normally buy something, I pay exactly whats on the tag, whether that includes taxes or not (it does) doesn't register, you just pay. If you buy something in america, It might be the same cost including taxes, but it seems more expensive, becouse you have to pay taxes seperately, like a not so nice surprice at the checkout.

Well, that was my two cents.

And my spell check doesn't seem to be working, please excuse glaring mistakes...

[Phantasee]

That might be due to different areas having different sales tax rates. It would probably piss people off more to know that flat screen TV is a couple hundred cheaper in the next county or state over. Since the tax is hidden, nobody sees that and assume the TV is the same price in both places.

If that sounds too simple, remember that we're talking about the same consumers that are fooled into thinking a product isn't two hundred dollars because it's marked $199.99.

[Liberty]

One quick thing I'd like to add before I'm off to class.
One thing struck me as rather odd and iritating when I was on holyday in the states: Taxes not included on prices of products.
I can immagine that this makes taxes a lot more visible, and a lot more iritating. When I normally buy something, I pay exactly whats on the tag, whether that includes taxes or not (it does) doesn't register, you just pay. If you buy something in america, It might be the same cost including taxes, but it seems more expensive, becouse you have to pay taxes seperately, like a not so nice surprice at the checkout.

Well, that was my two cents.

And my spell check doesn't seem to be working, please excuse glaring mistakes...

The taxes are included in the tag price where you live? Weird...

When we would check out at the grocery when I was a kid, mom would tell us how much sales tax she was paying, and tell us that that's how we pay for roads and the police.

[Lusankya]

They have the amount of tax paid written on the receipt, so your mum could have still told you how much tax you were paying. It just would have involved less effort on her part, since the maths would have been already done for her.

[Surlethe]

It looks like the Netherlands have a VAT. That might have something to do with the different experience.

[Lusankya]

Why would that make a difference? Australia only got the GST in 2000, but tax was still included on the price tag before then. And the GST isn't even on every product - non-essential items that aren't feminine hygiene products* are exempt from the GST. So you can't really say that a non-uniform application of the tax has anything to do with it.

*The government at the time decided that tampons and pads were luxury items.

[ShadowDragon8685]

As I was told, it's so corporations can standardize the price tags across their stores.

For example, in New Jersey where I live, there's two sales tax rates; 7% and 3%, depending on whether or not a store is located in an area where the state had declared a 4% break on the sales tax. In Delaware, there is no sales tax whatsoever. The sales tax is different in Pennsylvania and New York, at least one of which are within reasonable travel distance of most residents of the state.

However, it's not remotely infeasable for stores to be clustered along the arbitrary border; I drive across a bridge (at a $3 toll) and I'm in the Home of Tax-Free Shopping (as the state of Delaware so proudly promotes itself.) I think they want it so that in all of their locations, in PA, DE, NJ, and NY all state the same thing.

The reasons for this are bullshit, of course. Stickers and shelf tags are printed out on-site, there's no reason they can't add the sales tax to the sticker price, but they won't. I suppose the reason for this is to make sales tax as invisible as possible, like as was mentioned, an unpleasant gotcha at the register.

[Ghost Rider]

So are you actually going to present facts or anything to your blitherings? Fucking A, reading your two cum splattered posts is akin to reading a bible humpers thoughts on evolution.

[Serafina]

One quick thing I'd like to add before I'm off to class.
One thing struck me as rather odd and iritating when I was on holyday in the states: Taxes not included on prices of products.
I can immagine that this makes taxes a lot more visible, and a lot more iritating. When I normally buy something, I pay exactly whats on the tag, whether that includes taxes or not (it does) doesn't register, you just pay. If you buy something in america, It might be the same cost including taxes, but it seems more expensive, becouse you have to pay taxes seperately, like a not so nice surprice at the checkout.

Well, that was my two cents.

And my spell check doesn't seem to be working, please excuse glaring mistakes...

The taxes are included in the tag price where you live? Weird...

When we would check out at the grocery when I was a kid, mom would tell us how much sales tax she was paying, and tell us that that's how we pay for roads and the police.

Wait, they are NOT included on the price-tag in the USA?
Wow, that is propably as weird to me as the other way is to you.

By german law, the price-tag has to display what you will actually have to pay - that includes all taxes, fees etc.
You can still see the amount that you paid due to taxes on the receipt, but nearly no one ever bothers.
As far as i know, it is the same in most (or all?) EU-countries.

[Ghost Rider]

One quick thing I'd like to add before I'm off to class.
One thing struck me as rather odd and iritating when I was on holyday in the states: Taxes not included on prices of products.
I can immagine that this makes taxes a lot more visible, and a lot more iritating. When I normally buy something, I pay exactly whats on the tag, whether that includes taxes or not (it does) doesn't register, you just pay. If you buy something in america, It might be the same cost including taxes, but it seems more expensive, becouse you have to pay taxes seperately, like a not so nice surprice at the checkout.

Well, that was my two cents.

And my spell check doesn't seem to be working, please excuse glaring mistakes...

The taxes are included in the tag price where you live? Weird...

When we would check out at the grocery when I was a kid, mom would tell us how much sales tax she was paying, and tell us that that's how we pay for roads and the police.

Wait, they are NOT included on the price-tag in the USA?
Wow, that is propably as weird to me as the other way is to you.

By german law, the price-tag has to display what you will actually have to pay - that includes all taxes, fees etc.
You can still see the amount that you paid due to taxes on the receipt, but nearly no one ever bothers.
As far as i know, it is the same in most (or all?) EU-countries.

Sometimes you can find it with the price attached. Most of the problem is sales taxes have variations within states themselves depending on counties.

While many will scream how it's wrong, it is an inherent problem with having federal, state and local tax laws and difference within each.

[Serafina]

Sometimes you can find it with the price attached. Most of the problem is sales taxes have variations within states themselves depending on counties.

While many will scream how it's wrong, it is an inherent problem with having federal, state and local tax laws and difference within each.

Well, i would say that having different sales-taxes per county is a problem by itself.

Any way, i would say not having the actual prize on the prize tag is a problem because it is a detriment to customer convenience - basically, they do not immedeately know what they will have to pay for a given product.
Highly variable taxes make this even more important and are not an excuse - every store could just re-calculate the actual prize (they have to do that anyway) and put it on the tag.

[Ghost Rider]

Sometimes you can find it with the price attached. Most of the problem is sales taxes have variations within states themselves depending on counties.

While many will scream how it's wrong, it is an inherent problem with having federal, state and local tax laws and difference within each.

Well, i would say that having different sales-taxes per county is a problem by itself.

Any way, i would say not having the actual prize on the prize tag is a problem because it is a detriment to customer convenience - basically, they do not immedeately know what they will have to pay for a given product.
Highly variable taxes make this even more important and are not an excuse - every store could just re-calculate the actual prize (they have to do that anyway) and put it on the tag.

For why they never do it? Time management is the largest and most overriding reason. For retail, it would take too many hours that could be spent just clocking it on the register.

And having different taxes per state has long been a problem with American taxes as a whole. Makes a fucking myriad mess of which state does what, where, and what federal regulations stand and which don't.

[Lusankya]

How, exactly, does it take extra time? You say this like it is gospel, but they have to put the price labels on anyway. There might be a on-off labour expenditure at the time of the initial change from tax-excluded prices to tax-included prices, but for the general day to day business of running the store, all they'd have to do is type a different number into their label machine.

At what point exactly do they need to spend extra time? Or better yet, time over and above the time wasted when they encounter customers who calculated the tax incorrectly.

[ShadowDragon8685]

So are you actually going to present facts or anything to your blitherings? Fucking A, reading your two cum splattered posts is akin to reading a bible humpers thoughts on evolution.

Go fuck yourself with a scalding-hot steel dildo, I did present facts, numblefuck!

Fact: Sales Tax in New Jersey is generally 7%, reduced to 3% by long-ago legislative action affecting certain areas.
Fact: Delaware has no sales tax.
Fact: Pennsylvania and the state of New York have their own tax laws.
Fact: Most of NJ has easy driving access to at least one of DE, PA, or NY.
Fact: I was told some time ago that the reason for uninclusive price tags was so that stores could display a standardized price across all locations.

These facts are generally self-evident, unless you're really such a retard that you're going to challenge me about the sales tax rate of the state where I live and the other state I travel to most often.

I already stated that I thought the reason I was given to be bullshit, I was reporting it for the benefit of those who don't understand. In full, the reason I was given was because printed, mailed-out advertisements are printed in a central location, and they don't want to introduce the overhead for producing and sorting entirely different sets of advertisements at the printers, so they write their prices as $19.99 + tax or whatever, as that way an advert printed in Indiana can be as relevant in Miami, FL, as in Nome, Alaska.

But you'd rather just rag on me, so do us a favor and go extract the stick from your ass. Replace it with a dildo, you sound like you could use a good self-pleasure session.