yes, you have to pay tax

[smileyeagle1021]

OK, something that is happening more often as of late. People bitching about the tax rate. Yes, for Salt Lake the tax on hotels is roughly 12%, yes, I agree, it's outrageous, yes, I wish it was lower, and no, I didn't vote for any of the people who control the tax rate, you will notice that they are all most notably republican and I am most notably not. So please, stop getting on my case about how much money you have to pay in hotel tax. There is one SC I got last night though who was a special breed.

Me: Ok, for (company) that is $42 plus tax, for a total of $47.something (I'm too lazy to look up what the exact total is )
SC: I can't believe how much it costs now, I stay here all the time and I've never had to pay that much.
-please note, the last time she stayed was in 2008.
Me- well, the rate did go from $39 to $42 not that long ago (yeah, 9 months isn't that long ) and the tax rate hasn't changed, so it's only a little bit higher than your last stay.
SC: tax... you're charging me tax
Me: ... yes...
SC: well, none of the other hotels are charging us tax.
Me: ...
SC: do you think you can waive the tax like they do?
Me: exactly which hotel is this again... I'm sure they'd love to have a chat with the state tax commission... and as it is that I don't want to have a chat with the state tax commission I WILL be charging tax.
SC: fine, I guess I'll just have to go to those other hotels next time
Me: (thinking- please do) well, here's your keys, is there anything else I can assist with?

oh, and to add joy to this case, she moved rooms three times because "the beds aren't comfortable enough"... which is bull, because I went to check one of them and I damned near fell asleep as soon as my body hit it.

[lupo pazzesco]

but you were dealing with Goldilocks, smiley! And she hadn't found the bed that was juuuuuuuuust right. :P

We get idjits wanting to know why textbooks are taxed, so don't feel bad. Happens everywhere. This coming weekend is TX tax free weekend. It's going to be massively bad because it's also right before the semester starts. I skeeered.

But if she does let drop which hotels don't ever charge tax, let me know. Never know when that info can come in handy.

[smileyeagle1021]

you know Lupo, I can almost understand the textbook one... I know at least in Utah if you purchase from a state run school's bookstore they don't charge sales tax...

[Gruesome]

I despise the "I don't have to pay tax" assholes. I used to get them occasionally at the pizza place.

And who doesn't realize that every town in America taxes the hell out of tourists by way of hotel, rental car and similar taxes? It's not like this is new.

[bloodrose]

I despise the "I don't have to pay tax" assholes. I used to get them occasionally at the pizza place.

And who doesn't realize that every town in America taxes the hell out of tourists by way of hotel, rental car and similar taxes? It's not like this is new.

Well, technically, the business has to pay the tax. I used to do accounting for a business that had to pay sales tax. The business is allowed to pass on the sales tax cost to the customer and nearly everyone does but technically, they don't have to. However, your business sets the transaction that decides what a person must give you in return for your goods and services and you have the right to make it sales (or hotel) tax as part of said transaction.

[Dave1982]

That depends on the state. In Massachusetts, for instance, it's illegal for a business not pass the sales tax on to the customer.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Back when I worked at Sprint, the bills would show the state tax applied and the actual tax rate (i.e. 4.25%).

I had not one, but MULTIPLE callers who called complaining their bill was too high and DEMANDED I lower the tax rate for them or remove it completely so they would never be charged tax again.

[Jester]

Keep in mind, a lot of the hotels may not actually break down the bill for the customer, merely saying, "That'll be $47.63," rather than, "That'll be $42 plus tax, which brings it to $47.63." In an SC's head, that translates as "that other hotel didn't charge me tax!"

And yes, businesses can include the tax in the price they charge the customer. Most don't, for the very simple reason that it makes their prices look lower when they don't. It's how rental car companies get away with practically lying about what their rates are, since once you add the appropriate taxes, fees, and levies, a typical rental car is suddenly about 40% more expensive than their advertised rate.

Those of you who frequent bars may notice that a drink will cost, say, $5.00 even, not $5.26. Why? Is alcohol tax free? Well, in most places, no. But for convenience, just about every bar builds the tax into the price of the drinks. That $5.00 drink is actually something like $4.74 with $0.26 tax pre-added to make it a nice round number for the customer. And yet these same places don't do the same thing for food. Again, this begs the question, why? Again, it's really a matter of pragmatism. Bar guests often pay as they go. Five drinks, five separate transactions. Restaurant diners, on the other hand, pay at the end of the meal, one time. So the establishment does not have to pre-convenience the prices for the guests, even if the bar drinks are still pre-taxed. Make sense? I hope so. I tried to explain it as simply as possible.

And now that I think about it, that is probably the most detailed explanation of anything to do with taxes that I have ever (or will ever) give.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Ooooo I hate the "I don't have to pay tax" people.

I live in BC, and our tax on most items comes to 12%... 5% Gov't Sales Tax and 7% Provincial Sales Tax. I live a 20 minute drive from the BC/Alberta border, and in Alberta they don't have a PST.

So every once-in-a-while I get a customer from Alberta that doesn't think they should pay the PST because they don't live in the province.

I'm sorry, it doesn't work that way. If it did, that means I would have to pay the BC tax for everything when I drive to Edmonton for the weekend.

Although, there is a way around it... If we print a job for someone and their Alberta address is on the printed product, THEN we can get away with not charging PST. Then we can get the PROOF that you are an Alberta resident getting work printed and the gov't can track you down if there's a problem. And they will. Because they have. I've seen it.

[BookstoreEscapee]

you know Lupo, I can almost understand the textbook one... I know at least in Utah if you purchase from a state run school's bookstore they don't charge sales tax...

I don't pay sales tax if I order through the warehouse at work I also get a bigger discount. Unfortunately I can only order books, and only if they are in stock at the warehouse. And most textbooks aren't included because we'd lose money on 'em.

I once had a girl return a book that was bought in New York, where the tax rate was about 2% higher (at least at the time). I forgot to change the tax rate when I did the transaction and she made a huge deal out of it. I fixed it (which took a few minutes because it was a pain on our old register system) and the difference was a whole 54 cents or something. Unfortunately, not all the receipts had the actual tax rate printed on them and sometimes I'd be standing there with a calculator trying to figure it out because usually the customer didn't know (having bought the item while on vacation or whatever), and you had to change the rate, you couldn't just change the dollar amount of the tax.

I also loved the teachers who would pull out their school's tax exempt letter while using their personal teacher discount card. That's a no. You are not tax exempt, your institution is. No purchase order or other proof that you are buying for the school? Pay tax.

[lupo pazzesco]

Smiley, BE, I guess it depends on where you are. In Texas, taxes always apply to textbooks, no exceptions. (Well, if you've got the fuckton of paperwork that grants you tax exempt status, then maybe, even then, it requires a couple copies, and a verifiable number...)

It's not on the exemption list, though, so this weekend is going to suck. A lot. I can see it now, or rather, hear it now, the myriad students whining and pisisng and moaning because they waited specifically for that weekend to buy their books, because they have to be tax free and we're breaking the law, and false advertising and rabblerabblerabblerabble!

<gasppantwheeze> Ok, I'm done... >.> sorry

[BookstoreEscapee]

Smiley, BE, I guess it depends on where you are. In Texas, taxes always apply to textbooks, no exceptions.

I don't know why it is that they are allowed to sell to us with no sales tax, but it's a perk that's only available to people who actually work at the warehouse. Store and other corporate employees can't do it. I guess they can do the bigger discount (10% more than our regular store discount on books) because they don't have to actually ship it. They pack it like normal and then it goes to a pickup area behind the security desk (which is only open on Wednesdays for certain hours). You have to get the order in by Wedsnesday at 10am, and you pick it up the following Wednesday. If something's not available, you find out when you go to pick it up and it's not in the box. So if you need something quickly, it's not your best route.

But we can only order books; no music/dvd, toys, games, gift product, etc. And if something is not there or is reserved (most new and promo books have a certain amount of copies reserved for .com orders and such), we can't get it.

[lupo pazzesco]

that sounds like a fair tradeoff... Wish I had that. My store does have employee perks on textbooks, but yours sounds better. Even with the discounts we're giving, I'm looking at $130 for 3 books. not too bad in the long run, but yeesh. One more thing to figure out how to squeeze in my budget.

Almost wish books were tax free, but alas. Not in Texas.

Though...adult diapers are tax exempt. (looked over the posted list today...) Can't quite figure that one out... 0.o

[BookstoreEscapee]

that sounds like a fair tradeoff... Wish I had that. My store does have employee perks on textbooks, but yours sounds better. Even with the discounts we're giving, I'm looking at $130 for 3 books. not too bad in the long run, but yeesh. One more thing to figure out how to squeeze in my budget.

We don't even give teacher discounts on textbooks. Usually they get net pricing, which means we buy them at whatever the publisher charges, no discounts, and we mark them up X percentage. So in most cases even giving a 20% discount on them would lose us money.

[dalesys]

...Though...adult diapers are tax exempt. (looked over the posted list today...) Can't quite figure that one out... 0.o

Because if Depends were taxed.... it would be a no shit tax...