Was just going over some materials receipts.
State tax charged at neighborhood Lowes at 7%.
Example:
A $44.86 charge with tax of $3.15 totals $48.01.
The $44.86 subtotal times the 1.07 for intial charge plus tax comes to $48.0002.
Them cheap bastards.
And I thought I was bad.
“sobriety is the root cause of dementia.”, rez,2004
“Geodesics have an infinite proliferation of possible branches, at the whim of subatomic indeterminism.”,
Jack Williamson, The Legion of Time
Replies
Is you tax exactly 7% ? Ours is 7.875%
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
I called and was told 7%. What percentage would vary that .0002 to .01?
Now I got to thinking.
All those individual receipts across a years time in all Lowes across the continent rounded up from those miniscule amounts, do those extra monies just go into Lowes coffers as business profit?"sobriety is the root cause of dementia.", rez,2004
"Geodesics have an infinite proliferation of possible branches, at the whim of subatomic indeterminism.",Jack Williamson, The Legion of Time
it goes to the "reelect an idiot" fund.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
it goes to the "reelect an idiot" fund.
what position are you running for? ;)
think hes after your job steve-o
it probably isn't a retailers say so. it could vary from one state to another but my experience in Co and ME is that the state determines how the charge is appliedso that there would be a chart showing for a 5% sales tax, that the retailer should charge one penny on any amt up to nineteen cents, two pennies an any amt of 20 to 39 cents, etc.
It is a case of long standing historical precedent that any part of a thing is representative of the whole. For instance, there are cultures where a child in the first year of life is one year old. After passing that first birthday, they are in the second year of life, so they are two years old, etc.
or - think about it like a deposit on the next portion of the sum,LOL.
BTW, retailers do get a cut of the percentage. It is the way the state "re-imburses" them for doing the tax-collector's job for them. but it is never enough in most small businesses to pay for the book-keepers time.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
[BTW, retailers do get a cut of the percentage. BTW, retailers do get a cut of the percentage.]
What state is that? I've owned stores in both Massachusetts (read Taxachusetts) and Rhode Island. Neither state gives anything back to the retailer from sales tax. We collect every dime, and pay it all to the state.
In fact, if we forget to collect the tax, or miscalculate it, we pay it to the state anyway. I'd guess we always paid more than we collected...
i would love to pay 7%
You could just pay 7% if your state had and income tax .
In colorado, I had a retail store, and I am pretty sure it is same here in Maine, though I don't do the sales tax thing here.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
When I was involved in retail we got back something from the state for colllecting the state sales tax. Not sure what the amount was, but my accountant told me the state was challenged in court and it was decided that retailers should be reimbursed a certain amount for their bookkeeping/accounting fees for collecting the tax.
P.S. I'm in NY
"Don't take life too seriously, you are not getting out of it alive"
Edited 7/25/2004 9:25 pm ET by Gary R
I seem to remember something about the legal theory there, - that forcing a person to do something for you without making recompense, is a form of indentured servitude ( slavery) so the starte could not force a business to collect taxes without any way of compensating that business for doing it.
The charts do the same thing as a computer set to always round up
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
"... so the starte could not force a business to collect taxes without any way of compensating that business for doing it."
This makes a lot of sense, but then why does it not apply to the feds??
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
deduct the time and stuff on the schedule C...you can write it off.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
No you can't deduct the time. Because it is not a "cash" expense.
I a way it is alreayd deducted. You do that much less productive work and thus have less income to pay taxes on .
You can deduct any office supplies and any "hired help" to help such as a payroll service or accountant.
My acountant finds a way...his cost is my cost..it's outta here
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
Good question
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I use to get something like a 2 or 3% discount on what I collected and paid to the state in sale and use tax. At first I paid monthly, then quaterly and finaly semi-annually. Didin't seem to make any difference. I always seemed to miss the due date, and get smacked with a late fee much larger than the discount.
Now they are adding sales tax to delivery charges. I pay sales tax on a load of rock, and then pay another chunk on the hauling charge. Arrrrrgh!
Dave
I remember seeing sales tax charts that listed how much tax for any purchase between two given amounts.
But I am amazed if any but the smallest retailers still use such a chart. I'm sure the computer cash registers just multiply by the percentage and always round up.
Then the retailer totals the sales and divides by 1.0??
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
One time I was pondering the 9/10 cent charge at most gas stations. I remember thinking if a gas station would charge 99/100 of a cent, I would bet that they could turn a substantial profit.
If the average car fills up with 15 gallons, and 300 cars visit the gas station every day, 365 days a year, that means they sell 1,642,500 gallons every year. Multiply that by 9/100 of a cent and you get $1478.25.
$1500 for a few little nines on the signboard!
Jon Blakemore
Most states have a sales tax table. It has an "accelerated" scale for fractional dollar amounts, supposedly calculated so that, on average, 7% (or whatever the percentage is) will be collected, based on some supposedly skewed distribution of the sales totals. In practice it probably has a slight bias to overtax, and in many cases the store gets to keep the extra. My guess is that the scheme was REALLY set up to get store owners to support sales taxes, and it has since gotten a life of its own.