Apparently I don’t pay quite as much attention to it as I thought I did, because Google tells me we’re currently at 9.25% in Chicago, and I thought we were still at 10.25%. So…that’s good, I guess.
But in my head, it’s “around 10%” because it makes the math easy. “Around 10%” on a pack of gum isn’t enough to motivate me to spend $15 on gas to go to one of the lower taxed 'burbs. But “around 10%” on a higher ticket item (or lots of lower ticket items purchased at once) is. Since my mom still lives in the 'burbs, I will sometimes wait on big purchases until I’m going out to see her, and do my shopping out there, instead. (And if I’m really lucky, she’ll pull out her plastic at the check-out and then I save even more!) But for the day to day stuff, I don’t think about it much.
Taxes on gasoline are another matter - I try to fill up out in the 'burbs whenever I can, because it really is cheaper, and I buy gas a lot. That usually means I fill up on Mondays, 'cause I’m in Evergreen Park on Mondays, and there’s a cheap Circle K station on 87th just before you enter the boundary of Chicago. Whether my tank is low or not, I’ll fill it up so that I don’t get stuck in Chicago needing gas…unless I know I’ll be going to New Lenox later in the week! (New Lenox is in another county, and has even cheaper gas than Evergreen Park.)
Chicago cigarette taxes - which are higher, much higher, than regular sales tax - motivated me to drive to Indiana for years. Then I did internet mail order for a while until they put the kibosh on that. Then I did those “roll your own” stores with the big automatic machine, until they put the kibosh on those! Now I don’t smoke, but my husband still does, and he’s switched to rolling his own with a small manual machine. The cost of a decent rolling machine, a carton of tubes and a bag of tobacco was less than a single carton of Marlboros, and his first machine lasted a year before it needed to be replaced.
Mill Creek, WA is 9.6%. And most of the area around Seattle is tied with you at 9.5%. There are some cities elsehwhere in the US with 10% rates, but it does look like Tennessee has the highest state average. (Per this site)
I’m in the same boat as WhyNot; living in Chicago, make my gas and other semi-large purchases in the suburbs, and my really large purchases on-line. And it’s not just about saving money. It’s equally about denying those pinheads in Springfield the satisfaction of wasting my money.
As of now, Amazon doesn’t charge sales tax in Illinois, so I buy many things from there. I bought my last flat screen tv online and didn’t pay tax.
For day to day things, I don’t usually think about sales tax. The only time I do is if I happen to have cash with me and I’m debating on paying with cash or using the debit card.
For everyday purchases, I don’t think about it at all. For purchases between $100 and (say) $1000, I might think about it, but it probably won’t make or break the decision to make the purchase. For purchases above $1000 or so (e.g., new computer), sales taxes become a central part of my thinking.
In the part of PA where I live I pay 6% sales tax. Neighboring Allegheny County has an additional 1% tacked on for a total of 7%. So, if I’m buying a high price item, I purposely stay out of Allegheny County.
I much prefer income taxes since they can be progressive instead of regressive and it’s a huge nuisance trying to figure out what something actually costs. I’d get rid of all sales taxes (except maybe “sin taxes”) and pay for what we actually need (which is only a part of what the government pays for now) with income taxes.
I live in a no sales tax state, Oregon. Our income taxes are quite high but you can see on your pay stub and at the end of the year when you file your tax return, just how much you are paying.
The problem I have with sales tax is that it is an almost hidden tax. Sure you can see what you are paying on your daily purchases, but how many people know how much they are paying annually in a sales tax state?
I just kind of creeps up behind you and you don’t see it. Same with slight increases in sales tax.
At least when it is income tax I can see it on my W-2 at the end of the year and decide if I think it is money well spent, or if I feel like it is too much.
I don’t see any “should be” reason for online sales taxes. Brick and mortar stores, maybe: the state keeps the roads paved and cleaned of snow, the street lights on, the cops on the beat, etc., which help enable commerce. But the state has no role in keeping an online business afloat, so there is no moral or logical justification for them to dip their beak in the transaction.
That’s one viewpoint. It may have even been valid, or tolerable, when buying out of state was a fairly difficult and minor part of the economy. Now, I can order a vast range of rather mundane products (shampoo, candy) from Amazon more easily than I can find it in my area.
The alternate viewpoint is that an elite minority, which is becoming an economically significant segment, should not be able to make routine purchases exempt from sales tax. Sales taxes don’t keep roads built and cleared of snow; they’re a fairly basic universal tax that pays for a wide range of government function. Having some large percentage of those routine purchases “exported” even though they serve the same ends just means the rate will have to be increased to compensate, which will fall harder on those who don’t/can’t buy things online.
(I understand the rabid anti-tax position all too well; I just happen to think it’s selfish, self-serving, shortsighted bullshit.)
We have a 10% Good an Services tax levied on most purchases in Australia and it is just built into the price except when I am doing B2B transactions, although they still pay it they can claim input credits. Building into the price is just the right thing to do.
As an aside in Australia cars used to be advertised $xx + on road costs, now they have to advertise the full on road costs.
I don’t pay any attention, because there isn’t anything I can do about sales tax, since I live very far from any borders with other states. When I lived very close to a border it was a different story. Fortunately sales tax is not going to make me decide not to buy something, so I don’t care very much.
Well, the merchants actually do pay the tax, usually after collecting it from the consumer. At one point years ago I only had a single item that I sold that was taxable. Mostly I sold my time, which was not taxable.
Rather than use the taxable key on my register, I just ate the 6%. As long as the merchant sends the state their money, Pennsylvania didn’t care wether or not I collected it.
Merchants act as the state’s tax collector, yes, but the amounts paid forward are collected from the customers. (Except in rare odd instances such as yours, which was your choice, or “we pay the tax” sales). So yes, it’s customers who pay the tax, and I believe most states have a requirement that the tax be collected except in cases of specific and stated waiver - they don’t want merchants doing it out of pocket and either coming up short or growing pointless resentment at “being taxed” themselves.
To say otherwise is to adhere to the peculiar economic trope that there are only sales… and no such thing as purchases. An entire economy’s goods disappear when they get passed across the counter.
As mentioned in passing above, it’s not unusual for merchants to overcharge sales tax through casual greed, laziness or stupidity. It infuriated me when SoCal sellers would apply the local tax rate (8.25-8.5) to purchases when only the base state rate (7.25) should have applied to my online buy. I have no doubt they were meticulous about accounting for the transaction correctly at filing time, pocketing the extra dollars collected.
The way the tax is added is idiotic. The art of taxation has been described as maximizing the pork, while minimizing the squeal. Adding tax at the register has the opposite effect.
Once when we were in France, my son, 18 at the time, bought a roll of film and said it was amazing that the price on the sticker was the price he paid. Yes, he was aware it included the VAT (which I think is extremely high in France) but it was such a pleasure not to have to add it at the end.
And don’t get me started on tipping. Why can’t restaurants simply pay the staff a living wage and say that their prices include a stated percentage of tipping. In my lifetime, the standard tip has moved from 10% to 12% to 15% to 18% and now is pushing 20%. Where will it end?