Questions for our British friends

[Rogerbh]

Sales tax in my part of California is 9.25% - Added at the cash register.

[Davemetalhead]

Originally Posted by wildtig2013

We pay the prices on the price tag and then add sales tax at check out for no food item and non already prepared food item.

Sales tax here in Texas is 8.25%.

So you're not paying the prices on the tag at all - you're paying an extra 8.25%. Why is this not displayed on the shelves so you know exactly what you're paying? If you go in to a shop in the UK and see an item for 50p, you pay 50p, not 50p plus whatever sales tax.

[Selebian]

Originally Posted by wildtig2013

We pay the prices on the price tag and then add sales tax at check out for no food item and non already prepared food item.

Sales tax here in Texas is 8.25%.

So what happens if you order an item on-line?

[deepsepia]

Originally Posted by Davemetalhead

So you're not paying the prices on the tag at all - you're paying an extra 8.25%. Why is this not displayed on the shelves so you know exactly what you're paying? If you go in to a shop in the UK and see an item for 50p, you pay 50p, not 50p plus whatever sales tax.

Sales tax varies both from State to State, and even within States, so historically it was a practical matter -- the actual price at checkout would be different from one store to another, so the price is quoted without sales tax.

Moreover, if you were buying mail order from out of State, you wouldn't owe the tax at all . . . this was one of Amazon's big advantages, years ago (they've been collecting State & local sales taxes for years now, but there are still smaller online vendors who don't).

Note for visitors to the US: this is particularly egregious with hotel listings-- on the order of %15 is not at all unusual (New York City, Las Vegas, Florida destinations all are on that order)

[Reclaimedwg]

Originally Posted by Selebian

So what happens if you order an item on-line?

You pay sales taxes according to which states you live in if that company (Amazon, EBay, Walmart, even grocery stores that delivers, etc) maintains a physical presence in the State you live in.

I buy stuff from Amazon and it automatically adds Texas sales tax at checkout because Amazon has a physical presence in Texas (distribution centers everywhere).

EDITED THIS LINE FOR CLARIFICATION:

This all changed nationwide thanks to the recent Supreme Court decision earlier this year but even before that decision, we have been paying sales tax here in Texas on online orders for years because companies like Walmart and Amazon and Safeway and Central Market that has grocery deliveries have physical presence here with distribution centers and physical stores.

On June 21, 2018, the United States Supreme Court fundamentally changed the rules for collection of sales tax by Internet-based retailers. In its decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc., the Court

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/17-494_j4el.pdf

effectively stated that individual states can require online sellers to collect state sales tax on their sales. This ruling overturns the Court’s 1992 decision in Quill Corporation v. North Dakota.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/91-0194.ZO.html

The Quill case prohibited states from requiring a business to collect sales tax unless the business had a physical presence in the state.

[deepsepia]

Question for Brits: when I lived in London, decades ago-- you could buy game at butcher shops- that is, they sold stuff that hunters had shot.

That's generally illegal in the US; you can get a butcher to dress what you've shot yourself, but butchers can't buy it from you or sell it on.

Is this still the practice in the UK? I remember buying pheasant -- was a major undertaking with the then GF to get it plucked-- and getting a mouthful of buckshot for my troubles.

[scoundrel]

It would have to be in season of course. Grouse shooting commences every year on 12th August ("the glorious twelfth") but pheasant shooting only commences on 1st October.

[Selebian]

The butcher needs to have a game licence and only sell game that is in season but he/she can sell frozen game when it is out of season.

What I have trouble with is, why is it that the best place to buy game is Doncaster Fish Market?

Having said that you can buy game from a really good butcher in Malton.

[Reclaimedwg]

Well, it looks like it's one step closer.

Now it's up to the British Parliament to approve it or it's back to the drawing board and square one.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/25/w...agreement.html

[Reclaimedwg]

I want to buy an apartment there so I can make new friends with the ladies neighbors.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ostitutes.html