I was looking at a grocery receipt, and there are three different tax rates depending on the items. The receipt doesn’t even specify which items are taxed at which rate - just the total at each percentage.
I understand the goal of lower or higher taxes on groceries is to incentivize purchasing healthier options over more processed foods, but does it really affect purchasing decisions when the final price of the items is opaque to the consumer?
America is a bit weird in that sales tax can differ between state and even municipality. Having different prices in a store two towns over isn’t very practical. This is different from how Europe does it, where taxes may differ between countries/states but not at the local level. Plus, with VAT there’s a system between EU countries to equalise VAT between countries when people show internationally.
Infuriatingly, bottle/can deposits often aren’t displayed on the price labels even in the EU. You come in with a two euro coin, buy a 2 euro bottle of your choice, and learn at checkout that your 2 euro coin isn’t enough to pay for the 3 euro bottle.
I know it’s different because you get your deposit back, but I think stores should be forced to show the deposit fees on the label. It’s not a huge amount of money, but it makes for some very annoying head math if you’re trying to buy something and only carry a little bit of cash.
that’s because sales tax is a municipality level tax as well as a state level tax. towns and counties can issue them. Sucks, right? I agree fully that the price on the label (which isn’t even on the item, it’s on the shelf) should be the price you pay. You shouldn’t add up the tax at the till. That’s the way many stores do it to make it clear that you’re the one paying the tax and that they just collect it and send it to the state. It’s not THEIR tax they’re paying, it’s not THEIR liability (even though they’re liable to give your money to the state don’t get me started it’s just republican/libertarian ideological bullshit). Also, it may trick you into spending a little bit more money. There’s lots of little games that go into why things are priced the way they are. All I know is I shop at the dispensary that rolls tax into the weed price.