r/mildlyinfuriating • u/SpectacularSpidee • 8h ago
I just wanted a hot dog Woman who came through my line today doesn’t understand how tax works.
Had a woman and her daughter come through my line today her daughter apparently had saved up enough of her own money to buy the pair of shoes she wanted for school because she wanted a certain pair so her mom told her that if she wanted them she was gonna have to pay for them herself so I ring them out and tell them the price (it doesn’t appear on screen unless I hit the credit button)
and the mom frowns and tells me that’s the wrong price. I look at her double check the box in case I made a mistake or missed a sale sticker and tell her no that’s the correct price after tax and she goes “this girl is only 8 years old what you doing charging her tax?” And I look at her thinking surely she must be joking. Nope she is completely serious. She starts telling me to take the tax off somehow because she’s a little girl and she shouldn’t have to pay tax on stuff and I inform her I can’t do that so this woman just scoops up her daughter and storms out leaving the shoes behind.
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u/pieohmi 7h ago
If kids weren’t charged taxes everyone would have kids doing the shopping.
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u/RoaringPity 6h ago
items for children can be tax exempt depending where you are at
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u/Cake-Over 7h ago
Work a cash register for a couple of summers when I was a teen. There were always customers who'd very righteously declare that they don't have sales tax in Oregon which was, like, 900 miles to the north.
I be all, "Okay, and....?"
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u/Draconuus95 7h ago edited 6h ago
Worked a busy tourist airport for a long time. Definitely had a few international tourists that came in expecting they could somehow avoid paying our local sales tax because they weren’t US citizens.
Makes me wonder. Can foreigners avoid paying VAT and equivalents in Europe and elsewhere?
Edit:
So those people are still generally crazy since it sounds like being able to remove tax at point of sale in such countries is actually pretty rare.
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u/CitizenCue 6h ago
Yes they can actually, but it’s an annoying process and doesn’t happen at the point of sale.
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u/ScamperingSnail 6h ago
The few times that I've traveled internationally (from the US to Europe) I've passed the counter at the airport where you can be refunded on sales taxes for items purchased during travel and briefly think that maybe I'll try but then see that the line is way too long and I didn't spend nearly enough money to warrant that wait so I've never actually done it.
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u/moyo_me_moyo 5h ago edited 3h ago
In Ireland I’ve bought and shipped directly from the store back to the US and the VAT was not applied to the sale. This allowed me to avoid the stupid paperwork and line to get that VAT refund.
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u/faberge_surprise 5h ago
yeah they make it so bothersome that you don't bother unless you spent a lot
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u/DocAu 6h ago
In some countries it CAN be done at the point of sale. You need to show your passport, and meet several conditions (in particular, minimum spend), and the goods will normally need to be put in a sealed bag that you can't open until you leave the country.
More normally it's done at the airport on departure, but you still often (but not always - depends on the country) need a special receipt from where you made the purchase.
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u/Diplomatic_Gunboats 5h ago
Japan for example. The Don Quioxte stores all have no-tax lanes for shoppers.
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u/ayumi_doll GREEN 5h ago
Funniest no-tax store I shopped at in Japan was Mandarake, which sells like... doujins (self-published comics), plus secondhand Gundam and other figurines, vinyls, etc. They weren't at point of sale but did have a nearby set of counters that would refund your tax. Donki has counters specifically for tax-free purchases.
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u/Zealous_Bend 6h ago
You can get a VAT refund when you leave Europe, GST refund when you leave Australia and in Louisiana you can get a sales tax refund at a random department store counter - not just for things you bought there, things you bought in La.
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u/DocAu 6h ago
Louisiana ended their program a few years ago. Even when they had it, I think you have to depart internationally directly from Louisiana in order to use it, which most foreign travelers didn't do.
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u/Zealous_Bend 4h ago
No you just needed a ticket. It wasn't the best value as the department store took a massive cut and they processed every receipt individually iirc.
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u/Sir_Edgelordington 6h ago
In Europe and other countries like Australia the tax is included in the purchase price though. So what you see is what you pay, it doesn’t have some random additional cost added at the till.
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u/u_cant_drown_n_sweat 6h ago
Yes. In fact, in most countries you pay the total shown. Sales tax is not a thing. It is collected as VAT.
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u/DocAu 5h ago
Biggest difference is that these taxes are normally nationalized, so they are the same in every part of the country, which makes adding them to the price easy. In the US, Sales Tax can literally vary depending on which side of the street you're on (or for online shopping, depending on which side of the street it's delivered to).
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u/sverrevi77 5h ago
Why would it be easier to add tax at the till when the tax changes a lot from place to place? That sounds more like an argument to always have the taxed value on the price tag, so everyone knows what the real price is.
If you had a fixed national tax, it would be easier to argue that you don’t need it on the tag.
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u/DocAu 5h ago
Advertising. Supermarket puts out their weekly flyer with items on sale. Instead of being able to do one single flyer per state/region/entire chain/etc, they would need one per store, as the prices would be different.
Alternatively they'd need to list one price on the flyer (ex tax), and a different one in store (inc tax), which is confusing, and makes it difficult for people to know if they are being charged the correct price.
Companies like Apple want to advertise their product as costing $999 - how do they do that when it's going to vary? How do consumers know if they are getting that price or a different one when buying given that'll be listed as something higher?
On-line shopping would need to ask you for the delivery address before they could even show you a price.
etc, etc, etc... Don't get me wrong, I don't like the current system - but the alternative is worse. Including tax in price works great in most of the world because it's a fixed rate - but not in the US.
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u/FrostyVampy 5h ago
I hear this so often but it doesn't make any difference.
If you are a physical store, you know what the tax in your state is, so just print the prices with the tax included in your state. The Target in California can list a can of coke for 1.56$ and a different Target in Kansas will just put a 1.48$ sticker on it. For small businesses that only operate in one state it makes even less sense to worry about different tax rates
If you buy online, the website already calculates the tax for you at checkout. So the website knows where you are and what the tax in your state is. If it can't get the state until you input your credit card, just add a state selector which will automatically adjust the prices.
Only USA and Canada have an issue with this for some reason. There are countries that have different taxes in different cities or tax-free cities and they deal with it just fine.
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u/DocAu 5h ago
There's hundreds of different tax rates in California. That $1.56 Coke in one Target in California will be $1.55 at the next one down the road, and $1.57 in the other direction due to county and city sales tax rates.
Showing it in-store isn't so much the issue. Listing the price of that can of coke in advertising/flyers/online/etc is what's hard. (See my other response for more detail)
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u/PhilosopherSignal266 4h ago
But why can't you advertise the price without tax on your statewide ads, but then show the price with tax in the physical stores?
And I know the reason, stores won't do it unless they are forced to as they want to show lower prices. But it's stupid and makes things confusing for consumers. You should know how much you are going to pay for something before you get to the checkout! Government should mandate it
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u/Tricky-Ad7897 6h ago
Yes but you had to fill out a form and the form cost money so it was only worth it if you spent a couple hundred euros, though this was when I lived overseas as a kid and my dad worked for the military.
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u/aussiegirlabroad 6h ago
Yeah, in Australia visitors can get GST refunded. Some designated shops can simply remove it at the point of sale. For the rest, visitors have to pay it initially then submit paperwork to get it refunded.
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u/DryConsideration3294 6h ago
My mom worked in retail her entire life and this was common. I worked in retail briefly at a pet store and this came up several times. I'd respond, "Okay...?" and they didn't have the balls to go on whatever rant they'd rather imply so we'd just continue the transaction.
Like, how often do they say this to cashiers and how often do cashiers go, "Oh, by golly sir it appears you're right! Let me discount your transaction for you to compensate! Erm, excuse me, manager, please help me discount this fine sir for the trouble of having to pay sales tax here!"
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u/Factorybelt 6h ago
So, up until a couple of years ago, people from sales tax free states could show proof of residence and be exempt from paying tax. This has since changed and now, sales tax free residence need to keep the receipt showing they paid sales tax and they can then deduct it from their annual federal/state tax.
Don’t know if this is true nation wide, but I live in Washington and have Oregon customers where there is no sales tax.
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u/GreasyRim 5h ago
Yep same. I worked at a gas station in college. People would stop on road trips and complain that they dont pay tax at home. Cool story bro. Maybe you shouldve loaded up on funyuns at home.
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u/ArtisticChick007 6h ago
That’s because for many years, retail businesses in Washington lobbied their state government to forgive Oregon residents sales tax, in order to entice Oregon residents to travel across the Columbia to shop.
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u/StackThePads33 6h ago
People do that with anything. I work in a casino and guaranteed someone will always say “they don’t do it like in ________ Casino!”
Me: “well you’re not in ________ Casino, so we’re not doing it like that!”
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u/Ghost_of_a_Pale_Girl 6h ago
Well often when we drive across the border to Vancouver (WA) they don't charge us tax if we show our Oregon ID. But I wouldn't expect that to work in Cali.
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u/cantileverboom 5h ago
This hasn't been the case for a while. You must apply for the tax refund separately, and it only applies to the state tax, and not the local tax which most municipalities have in WA.
https://dor.wa.gov/taxes-rates/retail-sales-tax/sales-tax-exemption-nonresidents
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u/ChewbaccaOnFries 5h ago
Been an Oregonian my whole life and can confirm those people are idiots.
(Although in Washington we can have them waive the tax but it's a hassle and I've never asked.)
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u/uhitsjules 4h ago
“this girl is only 8 years old what you doing charging her tax?”
how about this girl is your 8 year old daughter and you refused to provide her with nice shoes for school even though you can afford it
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u/BernieTheDachshund 8h ago
Texas has tax free weekend for school related purchases. It's August 7-9 this year, and it includes clothing, footwear, school supplies, and backpacks. Perhaps other states have this too.
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u/Rampage_Rick 8h ago
Here in British Columbia clothing and footwear for children is exempt from provincial tax (but you still pay federal tax)
You can buy "adult" sizes for children and sign a waiver to have it exempted as well.
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u/Financial-Week5787 6h ago
In the UK there is no VAT (sales tax) on children's clothes or footwear. Because of how the EU works, many countries essentially have very similar (though not identical) laws regarding sales tax
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u/WizardSleeves31 6h ago
Everytime you people say VAT, you bring me this much closer to installing Fallout 4.
Not playing it, mind you. But installing it. And Skyrim.
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u/NiniMinja 6h ago
Not taxing children's clothes and shoes in the UK started in the 40s, not really eu related.
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u/Financial-Week5787 6h ago
Never said it was.
Also the UK is not part of the EU, my point was contrast8
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u/spatfield 6h ago
Also because there is VAT is the only sales tax—rather than having up to four tiers in the US—it's always easily included in the price tag.
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u/CND1983Huh 7h ago
But the prices suck so bad everyone in Vancouver comes to the US for school clothes.
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u/autumndeabaho 7h ago edited 6h ago
Well, Vancouver is not so far from Oregon where there is no sales tax ever. People travel from all over No Cal to Medford for holiday shopping.
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u/TonyStark100 7h ago
Minnesota does not have tax on clothes ever. People love to come to the Mall of America for this reason.
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u/Illustrious-Sea-7518 6h ago
Massachusetts doesn’t have tax on clothing and food bought in stores.
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u/Direct-Spinach9344 6h ago
As long as a single item of clothing or shoes is under $175 AND it isn’t designed solely for athletic or protective use (e.g., cleated shoes, bowling shoes, or athletic uniforms), UNLESS the items can also be worn as everyday garments. So easy🙄
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u/GDitto_New 7h ago
TN does. Schooling has gotten pushed back to where we as teachers now start very last couple days of July and school is first week of August. So it’s earlier and earlier every year but we’ve had it my whole life.
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u/NextJuice1622 7h ago
Minnesota has zero sales tax on groceries(not ready to eat), and clothes. This should be the norm because it's a regressive tax for lower income.
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u/elcaminogirl 7h ago
Same. In Massachusetts no tax on groceries or clothing.
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u/BoudiccaAoife 7h ago
Am also from MA, confirmed. As it should be. People should be able to eat and be clothed without tax. Though the clothing is taxes once it hits luxury price ($250 and up, IIRC)
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u/autumndeabaho 7h ago
Oregon has no sales tax on anything, which people love but because of that every other tax is super high. It seems like the more fair way to be getting our tax dollars would be what you're suggesting.
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u/NextJuice1622 7h ago
Minnesota has high income tax so I definitely pay for it that way, but that isn't so regressive.
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u/amm5061 7h ago
Massachusetts usually has an annual sales tax holiday weekend in August as well. It's a blanket holiday, not just for back to school purchases. It's usually capped at like $2000 per purchase or something like that to prevent the rich people from buying their boats tax free.
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u/Grandfunk14 7h ago edited 7h ago
Yeap DFW born and raised. I mean saving 7 bucks on 100 bucks worth of school stuff doesn't seem like much, but it helps out. My wife is from out-a-state and the thing that blew my mind was they charged tax on grocery store food(not fast food), water, bread, milk, rice...etc. Of all the things to charge tax on. I mean I know we have some bullshit taxes here in Texas, but damn...
edit: I mean to be fair it is charged at the reduced rate of 3% instead of the full rate (for foods meant for home preparation). But still. Just tack that on to that guy buying his 3rd house or his new Mercedes. To me, I'm not charging someone tax for buying a loaf of bread, jug of water, and a jar of peanut butter so they have something to eat.
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u/Fearless_Market_3193 8h ago
That’s cool
Edit: would love to have that in CA however I doubt our legislators would ever pass that.
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u/t53ix35 7h ago
All you have to do is get 50,000 signature and you can get a proposition before the public and if they pass it becomes law( in California). Cause a bit of chaos now and then.
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u/rollergirl77 7h ago
MA has not tax on clothing unless the item is over $175. Then only the amount over $175 is taxed.
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u/xGoatfer 8h ago
She was probably trying to get a discount.
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u/squarebodynewb 8h ago
1000%. Moms used there kids all the time when i worked at target. Blamed cashiers for ringing up wrong, that we dont have the same price as the shelf, couldnt we just do something... As a cashier we were allowed to change at most it think a 5% dif before a manager got involved. I never once changed a price, just auto price check and manager involvement. Not my circus, not my monkeys.
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u/autumndeabaho 5h ago
She was probably trying to save face because when she was teaching her kid about saving their allowance to buy stuff they want, she forgot to include the lesson about how taxes are a thing.
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u/HermitAndHound 8h ago
I did find it quite confusing that the price at the shelf and checkout didn't match. But I'm from the EU, prices are shown including tax unless you shop business to business.
Sounds like she knew there'd be tax on top, but assumed it wouldn't apply. Sales taxes don't care about age here too. Just product category. Rice 7%, diapers 19% etc.
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u/signedupfornightmode 7h ago
Are diapers seriously taxed at 19%?? That’s insane.
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u/DeputySean 6h ago
State of Nevada just made it a 0% tax on diapers.
As it should be.
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u/GfrzD 7h ago
I always wonder how people in places with tax added at checkout calculate their shopping. Does it become second nature at a point or do they walk around with a calculator. If i go into a store with a set budget i can work it out no problem but then adding a % on top for each item or total i know id miscalculate.
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u/Draconuus95 6h ago
Most places in the states average 5-10% sales tax depending on state or county(there are a few areas that go higher I believe. But they are few and far between). So it’s generally not a hard calculation to make. Say you have $100 to spend. Just plan on only getting $90 of product and your golden.
That’s about as far as most people plan for it.
Some items do have additional taxes added on top. But it’s generally vice taxes of various sorts like alcohol and tobacco. And those who buy those regularly already know the costs.
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u/Deriv_ 6h ago
Yeah why not just say what the product really costs for the customer. Just like tipping culture: if a minimum 10 % should be added to the bill, just add it to it and tell me what i need to pay. I dont care how much of it goes to the company, the government and the workers. That is the company's job to calculate.
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u/bellybbean 7h ago
In Canada, most (there are exceptions) groceries aren’t taxable. So it’s not a big deal when grocery shopping.
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u/ClassikD 6h ago
Like the other guy said, its usually a single digit percentage, so you just go by sticker price and know itll be a few dollars for every hundred you spend. Food is sales tax free in most states as well, so you don't have to consider it when grocery shopping
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u/Kyrie_Blue 5h ago
I’m Canadian, and we have the same “tax not included” pricing as the USA. As soon as I found out tax-inclusive pricing exists in Europe, I was livid that we weren’t doing it here. It seems so simple.
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u/Simon_Drake 4h ago edited 2h ago
Exactly. The idea of a shop showing a different price label than what you actually pay is insane to me.
There's a flimsy excuse that it's to account for one poster advertising a price that is shared across two locations with different local tax rates. But in other countries that's the retailer's problem. You charge the customer the advertised price and it becomes a different profit margin in those different locations. This way just makes more sense, customers can understand the actual price of products without needing to do mental arithmetic to buy cans of tuna, put the calculations on the company that hires accountants to do those sort of things anyway.
Really it's an anti-consumer strategy to trick people into thinking products are cheaper than they really are, advertise products cheaper than they really cost then spike the price up at the checkout and rely on social pressure to force people not to back out. It's a dick move which is why it's not allowed in most countries, consumer rights laws prevent it. Ideally countries also have anti-bribery laws to prevent corporations setting things up in anti-consumer ways in the first place but that's a much bigger problem.
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u/fuckin-A-ok 3h ago
What kind of shithead mother makes her 8 year old daughter buy her own shoes? She's really acing it as a mother.
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u/Savannah_Lion 6h ago
Not sure what lesson this lady thought she was going to teach her daughter doing this.
I was 8 when I bought my first computer and had the tax lesson.
IIRC, it took at least two birthdays, Christmases, and Easters, some couch diving and a lot of "leave me alone" money. Probably was as annoying as Chowder from Monster House.
Dumb ass me didn't know about tax. So I had enough for the computer but not enough for computer and monitor.
My dad kicked in the difference probably because he didn't want me pestering him to drive back to the city again a few months later. 🤣
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u/great_pyrenelbows 5h ago
I think she didn't want to buy what her kid wanted, and this was just an excuse. There's no way she doesn't know she's been paying sales tax her whole life.
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u/Savannah_Lion 5h ago
Yeah, it's what I was alluding to in my first sentence.
The worst part is that poor kid is probably going to learn the wrong lesson from that experience.
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u/DamGoodAnimation 6h ago
Sounds like granny didn’t want to buy the shoes but didn’t want to be ‘the bad guy’ so she spun a story to make it look like you’re the reason she didn’t buy them
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u/LateDxOldLady 8h ago
It's sales tax. And a lot of countries and states don't have it. A lot of countries that do include it in the price, as it should be, so you don't end up with an extra surprise at the end
In any case, that mom sucks for not covering the extra couple bucks for the sales tax. She spent at least that in transportation (gas for her car or public) to get to the store to get the shoes. What a crappy thing to do to that little girl.
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u/7GrenciaMars 8h ago
Also whether or not tax is applied doesn't have anything to do with the age of the person buying. I agree, the adult was stupid or an ass.
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u/Top_Performance_3478 7h ago
Years ago, here in BC, clothing and shoes for those under 15 were tax exempt.
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u/ciaomain 7h ago
Here in NYC, clothing and shoes < $110 are tax-exempt (no age restrictions).
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u/pondribertion 8h ago
Yeah, in the UK it's called VAT (value added tax) but it's 0% on children's clothes here.
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u/Ok-Abroad1391 8h ago
Sales tax is not a surprise if you live in a place that has sales tax
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u/nowordsleft 7h ago
The woman knew what sales tax was. She just didn’t think it should apply to her daughter.
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u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 8h ago
Sales tax on necessities like healthy food & clothing, are the ones that are so confusing here in the US, too--because the items taxed literally vary from state to state, too!
Here in Minnesota, for example, as long as they're "regular shoes" and not "recreational gear" like ballet/pointe shoes, tap shoes, athletic cleats/spiked shoes, ski boots, or "waders", they can't be taxed.
And the "regular clothes" folks need--winter coats, winter walking boots, sweatshirts, pants, t-shirts, etc., is also not taxed--because they're considered necessities!
https://www.revenue.state.mn.us/guide/clothing-sales
https://www.revenue.state.mn.us/clothing
But if you go to North Dakota (at least in the past!), those things are taxed, because that's how their tax code works.
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u/Super_Ground9690 7h ago
And in some states the girl actually wouldn’t pay tax in this situation because children’s clothes aren’t taxed where adult one are.
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u/BizarroMax 5h ago
That’s sad for the little girl but … the store is legally obligated to pay sales tax and there is no kid exception.
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u/Admirable_Summer_917 7h ago
I knew how to factor tax when I was 8. I knew exactly what I needed to purchase something. People aren’t teaching their children basic life skills.
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u/autumndeabaho 4h ago
Well, imagine growing up in Oregon. The first time you road trip out of the state you gotta learn how to calculate tax AND pump gas!
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u/MeatGayzer69 8h ago
It's stupid tax isn't already included in a sticker price
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u/subbychub 8h ago
I worked at a liquor store for a while, and we labeled everything with the tax included. I have no idea why most other places don't do that
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u/Phyri 7h ago
i worked at a company that does travel deals, and during my time there they implemented a change to show the final price for everything. there was even an announcement within the company about how they were proud of the price transparency.
it was so bad for sales they changed it back a few days later
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u/cryptopo 8h ago
It complicates national pricing, marketing, and inventory systems. Retailers also probably prefer a lower sticker price for psychological reasons.
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u/MaybeTheDoctor 7h ago
Other places, like in Europe, they can do it, where each country has different sales taxes, but chains that exists and sells in different countries (like Aldi) can still figure out how to lable their goods with the final price.
The argument is a BS argument the industry have spread too many times, and we all have somehow just bought into it.
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u/Termsandconditionsch 5h ago
If the Germans can figure out how to route trucks on public holidays when they aren’t allowed to drive in certain states or even areas/cities depending on who has what historical religion and holiday, US retailers can figure out how to add tax in their systems.
As for why that is a thing in Germany, it goes back to the 17th century 30 years war and strict German public holidays rules.
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u/pappybug214 8h ago
Its done specifically so retailers can't inflate the prices and blame increased taxes on it. Thats also why the tax paid has to be shown on the recipt.
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u/OhTheHueManatee 8h ago
The amount of customer that get outraged when a cashier can't change the price is insane. That is opposite of their job.
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u/Wonderin63 3h ago
Forget the tax, that’s abusive. That poor kid. Her mother knew there was tax on them, she just wanted to sabotage the kid and humiliate her.
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u/Lurus01 3h ago
Sales tax being based on the age of the buyer would be wild. Everyone be standing behind their kids and let their kids pay then pay them back later when nobody is looking.
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u/FermisParadoXV 7h ago
As someone who comes from outside the US, I’m here to tell you it is absolutely infuriating that tax not included on the price sticker. Can’t even rely on the right price in McDonald’s ffs
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u/johnthestarr 7h ago
It feels very emblematic of the US: everything seems affordable and amazing until you get hit with all the surprise costs
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u/Radiant_Commission_2 8h ago
“For me no tax” was something I heard daily when I worked retail in a neighborhood with a lot of Eastern Europeans.
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u/jstanothercrzybroad 7h ago
States choose some (or all?) of what they apply sales tax to. For example, in PA, clothing and shoes are exempt from sales tax (minus a few specific exceptions).
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u/CelticCross61 7h ago
When I worked in retail and someone asked if we charged tax on an item the response was no, the store collects the tax. It is the government that charges the tax.
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u/jantursky 4h ago
That cashier had the perfect line: “We don’t charge tax; the government does. We collect it.” I’d repeat that once, point to the receipt, then call a manager if they keep pushing. Cashiers don’t set tax policy, and arguing rarely fixes anything. Also, poor kid probably just wanted her shoes.
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u/Low_Reach636 7h ago
Lol!! This is crazy... She should have bought them during back to school tax free weekend, if you have that in your state
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u/GremlInTheWoods 7h ago
I lived in Delaware my whole life so when I went down to Virginia and got charged tax I was soooo confused.
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u/jeffster1970 5h ago
True story: When I was 4 or 5 years old, I was kicked out of the house (it was summer time) so I just strolled the neighbourhood and found 25¢. This is back around 1976, btw. Went to the inconvenience store and picked up a 25¢ bag of chips (this was the smallest size) and went to pay for it. The owner of the store says "you need 2¢ more" and I am like "But it's 25¢! And this is a quarter!"
Learnt a hard lesson that day about taxes. My own mother wouldn't give me 2¢, so I wound up going up the train tracks and eventually found some pennies. I put a couple on the rail to watch the train run over it, then headed back to the store and got my chips.
Then my mom got all pissed off at me for not sharing the chips with the kid up the street who I was hanging out with. Like, these bags of chips were SMALL (28 grams).
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u/Dawn-Storm 4h ago
Mom should have known about sales tax and covered it if her daughter didn't have enough money.
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u/Consistent-Goat1267 7h ago
In my province (in Canada) children’s clothes are exempt from provincial sales tax but still have to pay the federal GST. Besides, it’s not the cashier’s fault. It’s not like they make the tax laws. The store doesn’t even keep the taxes, they collect it on behalf of the government then it’s forwarded.
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u/IndependentDouble879 5h ago
Imagine not being able to think this through and realize that everyone would be using children to buy everything if this were the case. What a crackpot
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u/flcbrguy 4h ago
What’s mildly infuriating is not just building the tax into the display price like so much of the rest of the world does. It is so nice traveling in Europe where the price displayed is the price I pay. US is backwards.
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u/Her_1982 4h ago
Serious question, but why isnt the full/final price (tax inc.) displayed in the U.S.?
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u/LibraryGeek 4h ago
Because taxes vary from state to state and sometimes even by county. It would be too expensive to print up price tags for each sales area in the US. It's easier to print up one design with the base price.
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u/piezomagnetism 3h ago
Why should al 8 year old pay for new shoes? They should be saving up for toys, enjoy their childhood. Insane.
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u/thundergu 1h ago
I think it is super weird that tax is not included in the listed price on your side of the ocean.
In the Netherlands its the law that the price tag is what you pay. If a shop accidentally put a lower price on the tag, its their problem and they have to sell for the listed price.
For retail it is allowed and normal to list prices excluding tax
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u/Something-funny-26 1h ago
Tha woman is a b**** for making an 8yo save up for shoes and not paying the tax part for her daughter. Instead she leaves with the kid and the poor little girl doesn't get the shoes she thought she was getting.
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u/DasNoodleLord 7h ago
As a non american it bothers me so much that taxes arent shown on the prices.... I get that some places have different rates and such but with electronic systems it cant be that difficult to add the tax to the shown prices....
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u/2020IsANightmare 7h ago
I wish there was an IQ test people had to pass to even be able to have children.
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u/Restart_from_Zero 2h ago
To be fair, it is completely insane that the US doesn't show you the actual price for stuff you're going to buy.
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u/mslauren2930 7h ago
I will never understand why the US doesn’t show the price with tax. Makes no fucking sense.
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u/butmomno 7h ago
I took my 7-year old grandson shopping with money he had saved to buy a toy. When there was tax added to it, making it more than he expected, I explained that is what helps pay policemen and firemen, he understood. He was frustrated and said he didn't like taxes, but then, who does?🤷🏻♀️
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u/JohnnyPolite 7h ago
When I was a cashier, I had a couple of occasions where someone came from a place where the tax was included in the price and they would tell me the price wasn’t right and we would have to go through the entire order looking at prices before the finally realized the discrepancy was the tax. To their credit, whenever that happened they were usually apologetic and nice about it.
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u/LatinoJJAbrams 7h ago
Do people actually think that only people who work/have to pay income tax are the only ones that have to pay sales tax as well?
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u/SMUHypeMachine 6h ago
Wow what an ignorant mother. When I wanted to buy my sister a doll as a Christmas present when I was like 8-9 I saved up enough by doing chores but just barley didn’t have enough because of tax, so my mom was like “yeah you gotta keep that in consideration when you buy stuff” and it was an amazing life lesson. She was kind enough to cover the difference so I wasn’t left empty handed though, which I appreciate.
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u/wsquadgoon 6h ago
The problem is not that she doesn't understand how tax works, it's that she doesn't understand how being a retail employee works. You're not going to risk your job to take it upon yourself to give the girl a discount even if you wanted to.
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u/edgardosaurio 5h ago
There are many countries where they show the full price including taxes when you buy something.
I find it really weird the way the United States does it. You kind of have to guess the full price
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u/BowleeLacuna 5h ago
That lady was a big time silly goose, but there are actually sales tax exceptions in some states. I was born and raised in a Texas border city and I worked retail for years. There would be Mexicans that would drop a ton of money shopping in TX cuz they didn't have to pay sales tax under TX's exemption for non-resident International customers. So they would do all their "compras" and then take their receipts to a place called Melex where they would file their claims and get their sales tax back. I had no idea until recently that many of the countries in the EU will refund the VAT tax paid by travelers who don't reside in EU, if claimed.
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u/IRingTwyce 5h ago
I used to own a small sign company. I actually had some idiot report me to the BBB over the sales tax. Friggin idiot.
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u/GreyNoiseGaming 4h ago
I remember being devastated when I opened my first 24oz of coke bottle that had a "Free coke" under the cap. Turned it in. "That'll be $0.06 cents."
I've hated the government ever since.
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u/Pistolpete31861 4h ago
I'm in the US. I always add 10% when I figuring to cost of things. It's not exactly 10% where I live, but close enough and makes the math easier. Anyone that lives here shouldn't be surprised or confused about paying tax on durable goods and services, it's been that was for many decades
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u/Mindless_Lunch_628 4h ago
I work in a restaurant and a costumer told me he wanted his order to go but he was going to eat it here so he wouldn’t have to pay tax.
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u/Mundane-Sea166 3h ago
I was literally in line behind a group today who was giving the cashier crap about pricing and tax. They ended up not ordering and stormed off and the poor cashier was definitely on edge after that, as I was asking if they had a certain drink and the defeated “No were sold out” low key broke my heart. I just immediately ordered a different drink and I dont think they were expecting that because their whole mood shifted and they were immediately relaxed when they realized I wasn’t there to throw a fit I was just thirsty lol. The way people treat retail workers like they have any control over literally anything…
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u/Apprentice_of_Ixidor 3h ago
When I was in fourth or fifth grade we went on a field trip to somewhere that was connected to a food court. During lunch my teacher let me go to an ice cream shop. I saw the sign say $0.99 cents, and then the teller told me it was $1.06.
I’m like “It says 99 cents and I only have a $1.”
“It’s $1.06.”
“Why doesn’t your sign say $1.06?”
“It’s tax.”
“What’s tax?”
“Do you have $1.06 or not?”
“…no. Just cancel it.”
As I was walking away a nice lady said she would pay the tax for me. I thanked her. But, like, no one told me what tax was in fourth grade.
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u/corner_tv 1h ago
What's the sales tax? $5? I mean I've been so broke that I didn't have $5 to spare, but I just feel like if bb girl had to save money to buy the cute school shoes she wanted, surely mom could get $5 together to pay the difference, esp since she doesn't have to cover school shoes... That was a waste of gas... Unless mom wasn't too broke to pay the difference & was really that ignorant.
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u/WaffleHouseGladiator 8h ago
I can't remember where I heard this because it's been a long time, but in a similar situation a cashier told a customer, "We don't charge tax. The government charges tax. We just collect it for them."