i guess i'm one of those penny wise-pound foolish sort of gals. what is bothering my frugal sensibilities lately is that i'm being made to pay a sales tax that to my mind seems to be totally illogical, illegal, even--though i'm sure it's not. i am buying see's chocolates from california, and having them mailed to my family, who live in maryland. the purchases are paid for out of my (virginia state) money wallet.-- yet, i am charged maryland state sales tax for the chocolates, not virginia's, which is a 3 1/2% difference. on top of that, i am paying that md tax also on the UPS shipping charges, not just on the price of the chocolates, although the shipping is done from california. i am not aware of ever having paid a sales tax on the cost of shipping an item before. in particular, how would md be entitled to charge for shipping that largely occurs outside of their jurisdiction, anyhow?
i'm counting on some of you legal minds out there to help me understand what it is i'm dealing with. the people at see's chocolates are very friendly and polite, but they tell me that their company has nothing whatever to do with the charges i'm complaining about--that they are costs they have to collect in order to do business in the state of maryland...(?)
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that's the magic of modern technology. One can program in to compute whatever charges a state wants to collect from any company . Do the program once, and just enter the variables for wherever. I bet they auto program to include tax rate changes
*. Too easy, although I am not a programmer. Once they start, it just builds on itself. States are looking any which way to nickel / dime consumers. Our state legislature has bills pending to collect sales taxes from Amazon et al. this year. I am resigned to it becoming law. Amazon resisted this fo a long time, as long as it could hold out. Gave in to Ca or perhaps Texas first, and the concept is headed our way. Probably likewise it already is in your state and/ or Md.
What is so special about California chocolate. I am familiar with Califonia grown ghiradelli, available at your local shopping mall and mail them yourself next time. (ask for a sample package and taste test, much more polite than tasting the merchandise before mailing ). I think Godiva gives a sample taste too, no need to buy. -- How do I know. I have Received Previously Opened goods from my brother, so let me tell you, it's not an unknown concept. He wasn't intuitive enought to send chocolates either.
I understand why States want/ need? more tax revenue. Ex. Best Buy's nat'l HQ is here. It's a place to go window shopping, test drive the new electronic gizmo, and order on-line. Usually cheaper, and if +> $, free shipping to boot. I did a lot of holiday shopping on line this year. So easy, and had it shipped where we had Christmas. Said don't open if you didn't order, and I'll be over to gift wrap my presents. Toot sweet.
This doesn't answer your question directly. Be happy they didn't charge Ca sales tax rates. I understand they are quite high. I will reiturate. You deserved a sample box chocolates just for doing business. Although they prolly would have charged for separate shipping. LOL.
* maybe not quite yet, but it's not far off. Hope there are more up to date systems in place today. The last company I worked, my clientele group was in all 50 states, and more than a few countries. Charges were in US currency, you figure your local to $$. No fudging for a better currency rate. Now, ea state had it's own "negotiated discount rates", if any. it was a mashup trying to keep them all straight for myself, and them- all in line to follow policies. And the rates changed continous. I would suggest it t took a just about a full- time programmer to hand hammer out the details and make changes, although my company chose to use its in house programming pool rather than a dedicated empl. And while it may seem logical, different programmers use different short cuts and not all program code lines readily accept change. And that's just one reason why we sometimes see errors occur on billing statements. and more, but that's enough for now.
