Taxation at its finest!

[KimRaye]

Have you ever paid sales tax on a GIFT CERTIFICATE?? A very famous coffee shop (not naming names) TRIED to charge me sales tax on a GC today and, I flat out refused!! How ridiculous is that?!

 

[Octoberbride03]

I'm used to paying sales tax for gift cards/certificates. Being from PA(originally) anything that isn't considered neccesary, like gift certificates get charged 6% sales tax. Don't know Va's policy on gift certificates yet. I've never considered it a big deal. Taxing gift certificates is better than taxing toilet paper like a certain NJ Governor tried to do once.


Maureen

 

[GeorgeG]

If it exists, anywhere, politicians will try to tax it.

It's been some time since I've bought a gift certificate here in New York and New Jersey (we're only four blocks from NJ) so I don't remember exactly, but I don't think sales tax is charged for the certificate. It's more of a "money exchange." The sales tax is charged when a purchase is made with the gift certificate.

 

[JDY]

That's insane. Why pay sales tax for money? The state will get its money when the card is used. The sales tax here is...{{{drumroll}}}...9.25% on everything - no exclusions for food or clothing. This was our state legislature's way to fix the state's budget woes. Sales Taxes are unfair as they have a significantly higher impact on lower income families.

I'd better stop...I'm getting mad.

 

[Pooh67_68]

Just last year I purchased qutie a few gift certificates from the local mall, and they did not charge me tax on the certificate.
They charged a small fee for the certificates so that they could continue to offer them. At least that is what I was told.

 

[shep]

Thats about as cheesy as gift certificates with expiration dates...
Your money you paid for them will never expire..

 

[mad4themouse]

I've lived in PA all my life and I've never paid sales tax on a GC.

Certainly, I can see where the state would love to get their hooks into that kind of money, however. Hey, tax you on the GC and tax again when the recipient purchases something. Kind of double dipping.

 

[my3kids]

Octoberbride03: I've not paid taxes on gift certificates in VA, but I absolutley pay the .045% tax on every roll of toliet paper I buy. It just goes right on the bill like the orange juice or tennis shoes...no exclusions for "necessities" as long as I've lived in VA . Was there a proposal in NJ for some sort of extra tax just on that??

 

[helenabear]

That's awful!! I can't recall a time I have ever paid tax on a g/c. Just like Todd said, stinks when you get the g/c that expires too

 

[Harley Chick]

I haven't paid tax, but I remember I was going to order a gift card through the internet (I can't remember what company it was, but it was popular) and they wanted to charge me $7.95 to ship it.

 

[DawnCt]

I would guess that the sales clerk made a mistake. When the item that will be purchased with the gift certificate is rung up, the sales tax will go on top of that item. They would be, in effect, paying double sales tax. You were correct to refuse it.

 

[Grog]

Never heard of that. Usually it the person holding the GC that pays taxes on whatever they use it to buy. It's like it's being taxed twice if the original purchaser is paying tax too.

 

[Grog]

Whoops...Didn't see DawnCt's post

 

[jfulcer]

I think they thought.... oh, here comes RimRaye.... we can tax her on everything!

 

[DrCavin]

Originally posted by JDY
That's insane. Why pay sales tax for money? The state will get its money when the card is used. The sales tax here is...{{{drumroll}}}...9.25% on everything - no exclusions for food or clothing. This was our state legislature's way to fix the state's budget woes. Sales Taxes are unfair as they have a significantly higher impact on lower income families.

I'd better stop...I'm getting mad.

Would be interesting to see if they charged sales tax when the certificate was redeemed, bet they do.

Fair taxes are charging a higher % on people who make more

 

[JDY]

Fair taxes are charging a higher % on people who make more

That's not what I said. I said sales taxes put a higher financial burden on lower wage earners. For example: A family spends $150.00 per week on groceries and pays 9.25% in sales taxes - that's $721.50 per year. For a family making $24,000 a year that is 3% of their gross (not net) income. For a family making $48,000 it is 1.5%. And for a family making $100,000 it is .7%.

I just think there must be a better way for a state to raise money.

 

[DrCavin]

I wont turn this into a tax debate, will just say that no one will ever agree on what is fair/not fair.

I saw an earlier post today mentioning the "email tax" NO IT IS NOT REAL, but I know Ohio charges tax on satellite tv services, but not cable service. Not sure if they have changed that yet, because the satellite companies were not real happy!!!

If politicians can figure out a way to charge a tax, they will.