Quote:
Originally Posted by Pliedes
I'd rather businesses were just smart enough to calculate tax into the price of an item. I'd love it if everything just had a dollar sign on it- but let's be honest, that's not gonna happen.
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This works out great in theory but not so much in practice. Did you know that if you buy a candy bar with EBT (foodstamp card) it doesn't charge tax because it counts as food? If you buy it with regular money it is taxed because it counts as merchandise. This is just one example.
Not to mention that it would place a huge financial burden on merchants to calculate and update their prices on a per item basis. There are over 20,000 different items in a small store like Walgreens. Leaving sales tax as it is makes it a simple change one number in a database when sales tax changes.
Also most items are priced where they are for psychological effects. While the internet heroes here know that $9.99 is every bit of $10, people shopping still think of it as "under $10." $10.69 just doesn't have that same impact. Items live and die based on their ability to reach a certain "psychologically effective price point" Ever notice that 90% of As Seen on TV items are 19.99? There is a reason for that.