Just bought a pumpkin - was charged sales tax

bcla said:
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.
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When we lived in San Diego, I remember Subway was entertaining. A cold sub had no tax but a hot sub did have tax. Additionally, "dining in" had tax but "to-go" had no tax, so even though I ordered a "hot sub", I'd just get it cold to go and then heat it up at home.

Now I live in Washington and where I work, if someone from Oregon, Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire, or Montana comes in and mentions it, they don't have to pay sales tax (which where I live is 8.5%). We do have to photocopy their drivers license and staple it to a copy of their receipt for our accountant. Sometimes it can be worth it, but I do roll my eyes when they buy a $1.99 keychain and make us copy their license and submit paperwork so that they can save 17 cents.
 
I remember the first time I bought a coffee in IL and gave the guy a dollar for my $.99 cup. He sat there waiting for the additional 9 cents. It blew my mind...pay tax on a food item??!! I had to run back to the car for an extra dime.

In Michigan, a $.99 cup of coffee at Speedway is $.99

In Illinois, a $.99 cup of coffee at Speedway is $.99+tax.

It all depends on where you are. I'd not be surprised at all to be taxed for a pumpkin in IL. In Mich, I would expect it to be tax free.
 
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It's simple. The pumpkins you buy for carving (and sold as such) SUCK as food. Basically, tasteless bunch of crap. Pie pumpkins are a completely different variety. You want a pie pumpkin, you won't be charged sales tax in Minnesota.
 


Prepared food here at home gets taxed.

You just reminded me that I found it odd that Beach Club Marketplace charged 11 cents tax on a $1.69 banana.
 
Skippy918 said:
Wow, that's crazy! In Texas for food items, we only pay tax on ready to eat, prepared foods.
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That's true in Wisconsin too. I was charged tax on some packaged snacks this week at Costco and brought it to their attention. The refund was only $.71 but I wanted to let them know there was a problem.
 
bcla said:
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.
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We expect a full report by the end of today. :teacher:

Charts and graphs as well, please. 8-)
 


soccerdad72 said:
We expect a full report by the end of today. :teacher:

Charts and graphs as well, please. 8-)
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Someone went through the trouble to do this:

http://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfra...he-rich/Content?oid=2184608&showFullText=true

CA-sales-tax-food.jpg
 
bcla said:
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.
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More than 900 jurisdictions within KS (cities, counties, and special districts) may impose additional taxes.

The percents I used in my earlier comments include the State's tax, the County's tax and the City's tax and in the case of special taxing districts that's added on top of it and everything is taxed that amount.

That's actually very interesting between Oregon and Washington..sounds confusing to me. People do cross over to MO for some things but see my below comment about the media overhype regarding crossing over to MO to get groceries.

That sounds like a complicated system CA has going on..I wouldn't be able to really keep track in my mind as a consumer unless I thought indepth about each and every item. And even then how many people just don't want to go through the hassle of getting a refund if they were taxed incorrectly (I mean I would but I know there's got to be people who don't want to use up the time).

sasywtch said:
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 : )
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To an extent all places are like that though so yes you are right. Any time I mention to people what our sales tax is they exclaim "woah didn't realize it's that high"...because well it's KS and we're kinda skipped over in people's minds (you know a flyover state kind of thing).

32 states exempt groceries from state sales taxes, and 6 states, including Missouri (which I border), charge a reduced state sales tax rate for groceries. 5 states don’t have sales taxes. The media did kinda overhype how many people cross the border to MO to get groceries because unless you are close to it you're wasting your time and gas...though to be fair MO also has low gasoline tax and gas prices are typically lower in MO (when I was in high school I would go to a gas station in MO because it was cheaper enough to make it worth it and it was 6 miles from the gas station to my mom's house-I now live too far away to make a drive like that..I just go to Costco where it's on average 10 to 20 cents cheaper). The only time that a lot of Kansans (in my part of the state that is) will go over to MO for the purposes of getting something lower prices is during tax free weekend..because well KS doesn't have that.
You are correct that on average CA does have higher gas prices. And boy the housing prices :scared1:.

And my comment was a more tongue in cheek thing because the government is going to get their money somehow. Though when I've been to places that don't charge sales tax it's like a mini party goes off in my head :rotfl:
 
We are not charged tax in the UK for fruit and veg. We didn't pay tax on our pumpkin. Which made me think. Cindrella and the fairy god mother had a good idea to turn a pumpkin into a vehicle. A magical act or tax dodger lol.. Depends which way you look at it...
 
Just checked my receipt from yesterday's pumpkin purchase. Was charged 2% (the standard for grocery food items).

On a related note, pumpkins here are much smaller than I am used to (moved to NC). I kept putting off buying because the few times I saw them in stores I thought they were too small for carving (mostly like basketball-size or slightly larger). I guess I have just been spoiled by giant pumpkins all my life. There is a place nearby selling what I would consider to be "normal" pumpkins for $75+

Lilacs4Me said:
I remember the first time I bought a coffee in IL and gave the guy a dollar for my $.99 cup. He sat there waiting for the additional 9 cents. It blew my mind...pay tax on a food item??!! I had to run back to the car for an extra dime.
Click to expand...

I always find it interesting how varied people's experiences and expectations are. I would be completely shocked to NOT be charged tax on a prepared food or beverage (including bottled drinks) since this has been the case every place I have lived or visited.
 
No sales tax in Delaware. It's actually advertised on some of the welcome signs at the state line. "Home of Tax-Free Shopping." People do come from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to shop here. It's worthwhile if you're buying big ticket items, like a computer or major appliances, but for groceries or clothing? Hardly seems worth the effort.

I'm surprised Washington honors requests from residents of tax-free states to forego its sales tax. If I buy something elsewhere, I fully expect to pay sales tax, even if I intend to import the items back into Delaware. Again, it seems to be more trouble than it's worth.
 
Govols1997 said:
We pay sales tax on everything in TN.
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Whenever I buy pumpkins at the grocery store or Home Depot, etc., I've been charged sales tax, but if I buy at a pumpkin patch (like at a nursery), I'm not. But, I agree that we do pay a lot in sales tax here -- 9.25% (at least in my county - 7.0 state and 2.25 county) and 7.25% on food items. Since we don't have a state income tax, I guess they need to collect it somehow...
 
tzolkin said:
Just checked my receipt from yesterday's pumpkin purchase. Was charged 2% (the standard for grocery food items).

On a related note, pumpkins here are much smaller than I am used to (moved to NC). I kept putting off buying because the few times I saw them in stores I thought they were too small for carving (mostly like basketball-size or slightly larger). I guess I have just been spoiled by giant pumpkins all my life. There is a place nearby selling what I would consider to be "normal" pumpkins for $75+
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The one I got was good sized (at least 10 lbs) for $2.99 + tax. It's not a huge deal, but it just seems a bit arbitrary since I could eat parts of it like the seeds.

We took our kid to a farm a couple of years ago. They had kids activities, but we didn't end up buying any pumpkins because they literally cost about three times what a supermarket might charge for the same size. I wasn't paying $20 for a 10 lb pumpkin. We also went to the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival. Pumpkins weren't really sold through most of the festival, but there was a farmers market and the pumpkins weren't too expensive, but most were misshapen. There were also pumpkin farms along the road, but we passed on that.
 
RedAngie said:
No sales tax in Delaware. It's actually advertised on some of the welcome signs at the state line. "Home of Tax-Free Shopping." People do come from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to shop here. It's worthwhile if you're buying big ticket items, like a computer or major appliances, but for groceries or clothing? Hardly seems worth the effort.

I'm surprised Washington honors requests from residents of tax-free states to forego its sales tax. If I buy something elsewhere, I fully expect to pay sales tax, even if I intend to import the items back into Delaware. Again, it seems to be more trouble than it's worth.
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Apparently it's optional for the seller to handle exemptions, and the state won't issue a refund. I suppose the incentive of the retailer is to attract business from people who are less likely to shop there. And marijuana is always supposed to be taxed.

http://dor.wa.gov/Content/FindTaxesAndRates/RetailSalesTax/Nonresidents/default.aspx

When I was in Portland, OR with my wife, we found a place in Vancouver, WA for dinner. I don't think it was a big deal paying sales tax, and there's no way around it for any fine-in restaurant. However, there's an outlet mall south of Portland, and the lack of sales tax attracts a lot of shoppers from Washington and California.
 
tzolkin said:
Just checked my receipt from yesterday's pumpkin purchase. Was charged 2% (the standard for grocery food items).

On a related note, pumpkins here are much smaller than I am used to (moved to NC). I kept putting off buying because the few times I saw them in stores I thought they were too small for carving (mostly like basketball-size or slightly larger). I guess I have just been spoiled by giant pumpkins all my life. There is a place nearby selling what I would consider to be "normal" pumpkins for $75+



I always find it interesting how varied people's experiences and expectations are. I would be completely shocked to NOT be charged tax on a prepared food or beverage (including bottled drinks) since this has been the case every place I have lived or visited.
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You must have never visited Michigan then?

The cashier at the Speedway I was at would have agreed with you, I'm assuming lol because the look on his face said it all when I said "There is SALES TAX on a food item??!!" He was like uhhh, yeah, have you been living under a rock or something? haha

I told him I spent my first 34 years living in MI where there is no sales tax on non-prepared food items (a cup of coffee from a self-serve station at a gas station is not considered "prepared"), and I has just moved to IL a few weeks ago.

On the other hand, I love when people come to MI and complain about the bottle/can deposit. And now that I have gotten over my horror of seeing a soda can in the garbage after living here in IL for almost 7 years now, it's fun to see the uncomfortable squirming when I tell visiting relatives to just go ahead and throw their can into the trash (combined trash/recycling in my town) instead of leaving it on my counter! Even though I grew up with everyone having a dedicated "bottle return bin" in their house, the thought of keeping sticky, gross empty soda cans around until I can take them back to the store for the $.10 refund is so weird to me now!
 
Music City Mama said:
Whenever I buy pumpkins at the grocery store or Home Depot, etc., I've been charged sales tax, but if I buy at a pumpkin patch (like at a nursery), I'm not. But, I agree that we do pay a lot in sales tax here -- 9.25% (at least in my county - 7.0 state and 2.25 county) and 7.25% on food items. Since we don't have a state income tax, I guess they need to collect it somehow...
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Wait..you guys don't pay state income tax??
 
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