Just bought a pumpkin - was charged sales tax

[bcla]

My kid wanted one and it wasn't expensive, but I was kind of surprised that sales tax was added on the premise that it wasn't going to be eaten. There seems to be some controversy in several states over this, especially Iowa. Sales tax wasn't charged if a statement of use was filed or pumpkins were purchased with food stamps. Certain varieties like sugar pie pumpkins weren't taxed. The tax got rescinded quickly.

http://www.denverpost.com/2007/10/31/governor-smashes-pumpkin-tax-in-iowa/

At least here in California I don't think this is charged consistently. I don't recall being charged last year. I've roasted pumpkin seeds before, so it can be used as food.

 

[shoney]

we were at a pumpkin farm on Long Island a few years ago. The woman eyeballed the pumpkins for the amount of pounds we had and then added sales tax. She came up with an amount and my husband said "I will give you xxx"....I dont remember the exact amounts but he rounded down to the nearest $5 and she took it. Otherwise, I don't think we were ever charged sales tax.

 

[SMD]

If you had an issue with paying sales tax you were free to cancel the transaction. You could still return the pumpkin for a refund if it bothers you.

 

[Southernmiss]

I am sure sales tax on a pumpkin wouldn't be that much.

Groceries are still taxed in my state 7% in our area. That's .07 per dollar, not that much.

 

[Govols1997]

We pay sales tax on everything in TN.

 

[bcla]

we were at a pumpkin farm on Long Island a few years ago. The woman eyeballed the pumpkins for the amount of pounds we had and then added sales tax. She came up with an amount and my husband said "I will give you xxx"....I dont remember the exact amounts but he rounded down to the nearest $5 and she took it. Otherwise, I don't think we were ever charged sales tax.

There are some places around here that charge a list price inclusive of sales tax. They just tally total receipts and calculate what (let's say) 8% would be. One place used to do it that way, but one day they effectively raised their prices by adding sales tax to the base price.

I believe most places that add on sales tax really just add all collected taxes (which may be rounded up/down ) and taxed base prices together, then figure out taxes from that. At least that's what some family members with a retail business did. They gave some preferred customers a discount by not adding sales tax, but in the end still had to calculate sales tax based on total receipts.

 

[Poohforyou]

There's a whole lot of brain power being spent on all pumpkin.

 

[Mizzoufan]

I'd be shocked not to be charged sales tax.

 

[tvguy]

I'm in California and we bought our pumpkins at Walmart and the receipt says they are non-taxable.

 

[dotfurio]

I've never bought a pumpkin from a grocery store, but at the farm they didn't charge tax.

 

[bcla]

I'm in California and we bought our pumpkins at Walmart and the receipt says they are non-taxable.

That's the weird thing. There's just no consistency since most stores treat all produce items as food items, including stuff like decorative lacquered corn/squash. I saw some pumpkins already decorated, including "hair" on top. I got ours at a Trader Joe's. It was plain.

Even so, I remember the California snack food tax from the early 90s. That was a disaster, especially with an official list of thousands of food items defined as snack foods. Must have been fun, especially at a time when many stores didn't scan bar codes.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Man you guys don't realize how good you've gotten it. Come here to KS where you are taxed on everything the same amount (with the exception of sin tax on alcohol and cigarettes).

Here in my city (though I cross city lines all the time) the tax is 9.225% on EVERYTHING. And if they have their way on the Nov 8th ballot the entire county will get a 0.25% sales tax increase. Some parts of my county the tax is over 10%.

As a side note I can see where the line is blurred with things that can be used for decor or for consumption in the states that have that all separated out as far as taxes go.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

we were at a pumpkin farm on Long Island a few years ago. The woman eyeballed the pumpkins for the amount of pounds we had and then added sales tax. She came up with an amount and my husband said "I will give you xxx"....I dont remember the exact amounts but he rounded down to the nearest $5 and she took it. Otherwise, I don't think we were ever charged sales tax.

When we were in Hawaii last month at this marketplace in Honolulu if you paid cash they didn't charge you tax...but if you paid with a card they did. Pretty certain tax was supposed to be charged (or included in the price).

 

[Skippy918]

Man you guys don't realize how good you've gotten it. Come here to KS where you are taxed on everything the same amount (with the exception of sin tax on alcohol and cigarettes).

Here in my city (though I cross city lines all the time) the tax is 9.225% on EVERYTHING. And if they have their way on the Nov 8th ballot the entire county will get a 0.25% sales tax increase. Some parts of my county the tax is over 10%.

As a side note I can see where the line is blurred with things that can be used for decor or for consumption in the states that have that all separated out as far as taxes go.

Wow, that's crazy! In Texas for food items, we only pay tax on ready to eat, prepared foods.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Wow, that's crazy! In Texas for food items, we only pay tax on ready to eat, prepared foods.

We've got areas that are special tax districts (as I'm sure many other areas do too) so it bumps it up in certain parts. The special tax district with the highest that I know of in my area (which may or may not be the case) is a total tax rate of 10.35%.

It's a foreign concept to me to not be taxed on everything. Which is why I hadn't even thought about no tax on a pumpkin which I would use for decor unless it's in a can (lol) as I am taxed the same regardless of my usage. You learn something new everyday.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

I can see it going either way for pumpkins. While technically a food, the vast majority are used for decoration. I really don't know if I was charged sales tax for mine, since they were purchased with other items.

Most standard food items aren't taxed in New Jersey, but there are plenty that are. Candy, carbonated soft drinks, prepared-in-store takeout foods, "juice" drinks that aren't 100% juice, certain kinds of snack items, etc.

 

[bcla]

We've got areas that are special tax districts (as I'm sure many other areas do too) so it bumps it up in certain parts. The special tax district with the highest that I know of in my area (which may or may not be the case) is a total tax rate of 10.35%.

It's a foreign concept to me to not be taxed on everything. Which is why I hadn't even thought about no tax on a pumpkin which I would use for decor unless it's in a can (lol) as I am taxed the same regardless of my usage. You learn something new everyday.

In California there are so many different sales taxes. The state gets the biggest cut, but there are regional, county, and city taxes, with slightly different rates depending on which city/county. We get temporary statewide taxes, like some implemented after disasters. The BART (transit) sales tax in the San Francisco Bay Area has been around since I was a kid. I do remember when I bought a car, the sales tax corresponded to where I lived. Something about preventing shopping around for the lowest sales tax on a big ticket item.

I still haven't figured out all the "food items" that are are taxable in California. Anything carbonated is. Hot foods/beverages are supposed to be except maybe coffee? A whole pie isn't taxable if ordered to go, but they can't provide forks. I get the feeling that a lot of businesses treat the same items differently. One of the weird things is prescription items aren't taxable.

It's got to be weird living near a border, like between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. Oregonians can supposedly buy things in Washington and flash their Oregon ID to avoid paying sales taxes, but only if it's going to be taken back to Oregon. People cross into Oregon to buy stuff and don't pay "use tax" when getting home.

 

[sasywtch]

Pumpkins should not be charged tax in CA whether or not you elect to decorate or cook it as it's a non cooked food item. To the person above regarding Kansas, we in CA aren't lucky not to be charged tax for food as we make up for it in other taxes such as in our gasoline prices. They get us, just in different ways : )

As the poster above says, there are so many different tax rates from one county to the other, I can't keep track either.

 

[bcla]

I can see it going either way for pumpkins. While technically a food, the vast majority are used for decoration. I really don't know if I was charged sales tax for mine, since they were purchased with other items.

Most standard food items aren't taxed in New Jersey, but there are plenty that are. Candy, carbonated soft drinks, prepared-in-store takeout foods, "juice" drinks that aren't 100% juice, certain kinds of snack items, etc.

We had the wildly unpopular snack tax in California when I was in college. There was no particular reason for it other than to raise revenue. Potato chips, chocolate bars, hard candies, etc were pretty obvious. Trail mix with candies was in a gray area. Energy bars were a really odd category, since many were really just glorified candy.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

We had the wildly unpopular snack tax in California when I was in college. There was no particular reason for it other than to raise revenue. Potato chips, chocolate bars, hard candies, etc were pretty obvious. Trail mix with candies was in a gray area. Energy bars were a really odd category, since many were really just glorified candy.

Yeah, power bars are really confusing. I think it depends on the proportion of the ingredients. If it's chocolate coated or contains lots of chocolate chips, it's taxable. Yet a bag of Nestle's chocolate chips in the baking aisle is not.