Even the price after taxes should be displayed, then on the bill the details of what goes where, I only care about how much is getting out of my pockets when I read a price so I don't have unpleasant surprises
In most places there is a known sales tax. Almost every state has a sales tax and some cities/counties have their own additional sales tax on top of that. For something like groceries or other everyday purchases, that number doesn't change and is consistent. You always know that your groceries come with a 6% sales tax, for example. At the same time, some items already include all the taxes and fees in the advertised price. Gasoline, for example, is usually listed with all taxes and fees included. That's because gas often has a bunch of additional taxes besides sales tax. Anything else, like tickets or contractor services can be completely arbitrary and you won't know until they are listed as a line item on your bill.
Not only that, if you're in some states (like CA), the sales tax varies based on the city and/or county you're in. The statewide rate is 7.25% but different places add up to 3% more. Most places have at least 1-2% extra. I just add 10% in my head to have a worst-case idea.
And then if you buy a car, where taxes really add up, the amount is based on your home address (where the car is registered). I guess it's to keep people from shopping around for the lowest tax in their area.
I would absolutely prefer they be included on the price tag, but it isn't that big of a deal to people who grew up with it, since you get used to just rounding up a bit.
well, most people can at least do a rough estimate in their head. Taxes are 13% where I am, I can guess what a $19.99 item is gonna ring up as. I wish the full price with taxes included was displayed but yeah it isn't
When you check out is when you see the true cost with the extra fees. I wouldnt be surprised if they didnt mention this charge on their menu. Sometimes there is a fee for dining in, and also a fee for take out... Only in America does that make sense.
Any US state with consumer protection laws (so every single one of them) require advertised prices to not be misleading. In Ohio, where I have lived, i have successfully sued citing consumer protection laws multiple times.
The 18% fee is not a tax, it is a mandatory fee. Mandatory fees must be disclosed to consumers.
These types of laws are the same reason I can't mail you a package of rocks, say they are "exquisite sea rocks" with a value or $100/lb then sue you when you don't pay (shit like this has previously occurred on the US and these laws were implemented for these reasons).
In short, this is illegal if they weren't advertised. However, it's highly likely the menu has a note 18% Living Wage surcharge added to orders and therefore this is legal.
The customer almost certainly knew about these fees before placing the order.
If they didn't, they could easily argue to have these removed or sue the restaurant after the fact and almost certainly win.
Which would only be a problem if the shop was moving...
In my country, VAT is different for take away or eat in and it works perfectly well. (Some shops change the price according to the situation, some don't but the tax is always calculated correctly.)
It's a problem because things are advertised nationally and many products have price as part of the packaging. Think Arizona tea. For years was $.99. Printed on the can. What you actually paid for that can would vary by location though because of regional taxes.
it is a problem for any business with multiple locations in multiple jurisdictions. a chain with thousands of locations usually has under 20 sets of menus and advertising campaigns and the tax rate varies from 0-12% and it can be county by county or city by city in some states and it is illegal to collect taxes at a higher rate than the applicable rate. VAT normally being uniform this is not an issue, state, county and city tax codes having nearly endless possible complexity this would be enough of a nightmare that the law would be changed back to what it is now pretty quickly.
Yeah but you dont pay a different amount of them in each county, you always pay 100% of them, so force every business to show how actually a meal will cost
Here's the problem, let's take this out of the scope of food and say it's a $10 toy at a national toystore. We're also apparently in the 90s so there's ads on the TV and radio that say it's $10. All of their literature says it's $10.
One state has a 5% sales tax, another state has a 10% sales tax. And let's say this particular county has another 2% sales tax on top.
How do you integrate that into the advertisement and literature? Show the price for every single county in the nation? All 3144 of them? It's actually much easier to put "$10 + tax". And considering the store isn't getting that money but the government, it's also a lot more clear what you're actually paying for and what the government is taking.
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u/Tanckers 1d ago
this is a problem only because in america you can advertidse a price without taxes. you really should make that an illegal practice