I didn't know that.....

[DemoCoder]

If you used electronic money, and stopped trying to count exact change in cash, you wouldn't have a problem. I would avoid carrying paper and metal in my pocket if I could.

When I travel to most Western countries, I usually Debit/Charge everything.

#1 automatically allows me to import my receipts/bankstatements into Quicken or other financial expense bookeeping program

#2 no need to futz around with counting pennies

I'll take lower sales tax any day if it means I have to do some extra computations. Hiding taxes by adjusting prices allows froggies to be slowly boiled, and sooner or later, you've got a 20%+ sales tax.

 

[archie4oz]

If you used electronic money, and stopped trying to count exact change in cash, you wouldn't have a problem. I would avoid carrying paper and metal in my pocket if I could.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) there's still a lot countries that are cash based. Even when I was working in Japan, I still received my salary in an envelope full of cash...

 

[Citan]

Alaska has zero tax? Damn, what gives?

We also have no state income tax among other things

 

[London Geezer]

If you used electronic money, and stopped trying to count exact change in cash, you wouldn't have a problem. I would avoid carrying paper and metal in my pocket if I could.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) there's still a lot countries that are cash based. Even when I was working in Japan, I still received my salary in an envelope full of cash...

really!!? how cool is that.....
i mean, its very unpractical, but i always like seeing loads of money all at once!
personally i feel MUCH MUCH safer having my money transferred straight into my account. still, the cash has some attraction to it don't u think...

 

[archie4oz]

really!!? how cool is that.....
i mean, its very unpractical, but i always like seeing loads of money all at once!
personally i feel MUCH MUCH safer having my money transferred straight into my account. still, the cash has some attraction to it don't u think...

It is kinda neat to get such a big wad of cash... Of course I had no problem walking around Tokyo with a few hundred thousand yen in my pocket mainly because the country is safe enough to do that.

The real inconvenience is getting to the bank to deposit it... Of course a lot of companies are offering direct deposit these days. But cash is still king these days in Japan...

 

[jvd]

IT be nice if i got payed in cash and allways off the books I really hate anyone knowing what i make. Esp the goverment.

 

[marconelly!]

I don't care if the price listed on the shelf factors in the tax, or not, I just want a receipt that lists everything at point of sale.

That's what I'd like - prices on products to be what I'll actually pay, and on the receipt they could put the actual price for it + tax, separately. I wouldn't mind that at all. However, it's kind of deceiving that listed prices are much smaller than what you actually pay (+15% in Canada) I'm 99% sure they are doing it this way just so that they can get more people to buy more stuff, as stuff looks cheaper than it really is. Psychology of consumers is a well studied thing, and even I can see how it's a bit more difficult to decide against buying something once you made your mind looking at the lower price, and couple of seconds later realizing that you'll actually pay more for it.

 

[DemoCoder]

5 US states have no sales tax, and the average sales tax is like 4%, with food exempted.

That means on say, $1000 worth of purchases, I pay from $50 to $0. And if it were $1000 worth of food, I'd pay $0.

On a $10 purchase, you pay around $10.40 in most of the US, I guess you'd pay anywhere from $11.50 to $12.50 (Sweden) in Eurozone. Historically, there was no sales tax, so naturally, prices are listed without it, since the retail industry started before taxes. But given how low US taxes are, the end result isn't that different. Again, I buy a $1000 computer, I end up paying $1040. In Sweden, I'd pay $1250, big difference. $40 isn't a shock to me, $250 extra would be.


Also, the US has had the equivalent of the EU common market since its inception, and there is a lot of cross state buying. In the IT era, it's worse, since online shops can't quote you a tax unless they can determine where you live geographically, and they can't do that until you give them the billing address.

 

[DemoCoder]

BTW, Alaska has no sales tax AND no income tax as well.

But it gets better: Alaska pays you $1,500 cash a year to live there.

How did Alaska achieve this? Alaska is a state rich in natural resources, and it has an oil pipeline through it, but low population. The government of Alaska was smart and took profits from the pipeline and other resources and invested them. The government and residents get money from interest income from these investments.

If you can find a job in Alaska, it's a great place. Beautiful scenary, low population, cheap real estate, no taxes, yearly dividends from investments, etc. Only problem is, there's not many white collar jobs there.

 

[zurich]

Heh, well my sister just bought a new car. $16,000 before tax, $20,000 after tax