> I guess that is why it is not included in the price by default

I hear that argument a lot but it does not really make sense to me. The place of purchase knowns what their tax rate is in their current location because the cash register has that information (and I assume this sales tax does not change very frequently?). So why not print out or display the prices with that tax included?

Edit: Ok I see, the "you" I had in my post was confusing. VAT is charged on the value added at each point of the chain, again unlike sales/use tax.

In Europe they have a 1 euro menu regardless of what country the burger was sold in (countries have different VAT rates). Some advertising is even shared between smaller countries that speak the same languages.

I really don't care, it's their problem not mine. All I want is for stores, fast food places, etc., to be honest about the price I am to pay.

In Europe, including the UK, it is illegal to advertise only tax-exclusive prices to end customers.

If you want to rail against hidden charges complain about the restaurant welfare system that allows employers to legally under pay and fire employees for not making the majority of their money from tips

Obviously it's beneficial to be able to advertise the lower price, these days assembling your own PC from components must be much less common than it was back then so I imagine even if the decision went in their favour back then that's changed since.

I think if you want to counter the poster, you need to give an example of a western country that has simple/automatic tax systems and have a lower tax rate than the US.

His/her complaint is primarily that if a system is too simple, it's much easier to raise taxes. You're giving exactly the example he/she is looking for - a country where it's easy and the tax is higher.

Now correct me if I am wrong, I have only filed tax in the US for a single tax year so I might be missing something. But for the median household income in California of around $66,529, you would be paying an effective tax rate of around 24%. (using this website: https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-tax-calculator#wWyPf...). And yes, I realize this is excluding deductions.

In the UK, the median household income is £27,300 and you would have an effective tax rate of around 19.6% (https://www.uktaxcalculators.co.uk/), also excluding deductions.

Of course higher salaries attract higher taxes in the UK, but if the above is correct, then the average person should be paying less tax in the UK than in California.

That's a big disclaimer.

I'm not going to argue for a hypothetical. I actually ran the numbers once. My state's income tax rate is high, but lower than CA's. For my income (above median), one year I actually calculated my tax for CA (as in actually got the forms and filled them out).[0] Despite the lower tax rate, the my state's income tax was higher. The reason? CA has a lot more deductions for people of my income or lower. CA can get you in all kinds of other taxes, but not income tax.

Also, just checked. Other than the deductions, for single people, you hit the second highest bracket at a little over $8K in my state. To get to that same bracket in CA, you have to earn over $50K. CA tax rates are low for lower income people.

[0] It's a long story why I did this - it was not fun at all.

My point was that taxes in countries where the tax return is automatically performed by the government aren't necessarily higher than in parts of the US. In other words, OP's comment above was nothing more than FUD.

Huh? But you said:

> [their] complaint is primarily that if a system is too simple, it's much easier to raise taxes.

which sounds pretty hypothetical to me! In fact this whole discussion is hypothetical!

> The reason? CA has a lot more deductions for people of my income or lower. CA can get you in all kinds of other taxes, but not income tax

To me, this sounds like a pretty good justification for a simpler tax system ...

In 2019 they will even have automatic taxation for small businesses based on the statistical average for the industry and various signals.

So basically taxation based on machine learning.

You can take it or leave it - it's up to you.

And this also shows that simpler taxation and higher taxation has no relation to each other.

How is a higher tax rate related to the government's ability to provide simple/automated tax returns?

Oh, right, it's not.

Sales tax where I am has similar characteristics - I think most people are perfectly well aware (as I am) that it is generally 8%, but I couldn't tell you exactly which items are exempt, or what the modification is for prepared food or whatever.

So I think you are exaggerating (as people like to do) the difference between the US and the UK.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-added_tax_in_the_United_...

There's no excuse for the sticker price not matching in the US.