> cultural distrust of taxation and government
> a decreasing tendency to use cash
> higher income per capita
Really don't see how any of the points above are an obstacle to putting the ~actual~ price of a product on paper.
> Also, most retailers here use paper labels
Great! Makes it even easier to printout the actual price. 1) Retrieve base price from database 2) Add local tax 3) Add whatever other "hidden" cost is needed 4) Printout label.
The pieces of paper are in multiple places. The bill is calculated in one place. Doing things in multiple places is more costly and error prone than doing it in one. (Also, the paper being physical means a physical person must update it. The POS can be remotely managed.)
Here is New York State's guide on clothing and footwear taxes [1]. (It's particularly well documented.) If any one of those counties makes a change, you're now proposing someone run through the entire store to update the affected labels or else risk lying about the price. That's manageable for a multinational. It's bonkers for a small shop owner. Instead, their POS is remotely updated (worst case, they get a bulletin to punch in a code) and when the barcode is scanned, the system figures out whether it's $110 or less and if it's really a costume or not.
If consumers valued it, tax-inclusive pricing might be worth the effort. But in America, we don't. The number isn't big enough, and I'm swiping or tapping either way. (Cash-only stores do tend to be tax inclusive, at least in New York, but that's because they're usually not paying the whole tax.) As I said, I can't remember finding it helpful when I travel to tax-inclusive priced countries. Surprising as it may seem, this really is simply a cultural preference. No right answer.
[1] https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/publications/sales/pub718c.pdf
This isn't free. That's someone's time and energy spent on something I, as the consumer, don't care about. Why? I'd much rather have that person available to help, ready at the counter or frankly at home or in a park enjoying their life.
What has meaning for you doesn't for me. I don't value having a precise price at selection versus purchase. At all. Like most Americans. That doesn't mean I don't see the value in your argument, just that I reject it as something that matters to me.
> What seems 'bonkers' to you has been standard practice in most of the world for decades
Not remotely comparable in terms of rulebook complexity. Also, income: if you want to find tax-inclusive round pricing in America, go to impoverished neighborhoods. There, every nickel counts and folks pay cash--it makes sense to spend the effort to precisely message pricing ex ante.
Also, in most of the world posted prices either aren't a thing or are completely negotiable. Haggling at the point of sale isn't a thing in day-to-day America.
Not to mention the vast amount of online shopping Americans do, where it would be trivial to include a local sales tax. (Every online store I'm aware of already immediately asks for your location and tells you to search for the nearest location anyways.)
I also reject the idea that most Americans wouldn't value this. I would bet money most Americans would prefer it -- they just aren't aware that other countries are capable of doing things better.
It's not free but it is negligible relative to routine relabelling. How many times do you think the tax rate changes per year? Maybe twice, at most, if the government budget is facing some major upheaval. More likely is every few years. Compared to the number of times the store will put things on sale or change the prices, that is negligible.
That's not true. I would guess the vast majority of consumers would at least slightly prefer that the tax be included in the display price. The problem is those consumers aren't an organized interest group, whereas retailers are. It's not a "cultural preference"--it's just the inability of the political system to address large but diffuse problems.
Furthermore, literally everywhere I’ve lived in America, I had 3+ local sales tax rates within my typical shopping range and it’s nice to know which areas have lower rates so I can preferentially make larger shopping trips there.
In the current system, to get that information you have to compare the label cost to the cost you paid. How is that more simple and convenient than looking up sales taxes in your area, or mandating they be displayed on labels in addition to price?
You can, if you change your prices in every state so that with added taxes, it adds up to $5 for the consumer. We don't have to accommodate our system of sales taxes to make it more convenient for national corporations to make $5 foot-long campaigns.
sorry, no, it doesn't. Taxes, by law, must be calculated at the point of sale. A penny on each of 5 items could sum to enough to bump the tax on the overal total by a penny. You're not allowed to "round" that extra tax away by computing the tax individually on the items.
Apropos of nothing, but I loved that about the place
Thing is, leaving aside foreigners, there seems to be such an intrinsic contradiction between the 'everyone knows' and the 'it is so complex we can't even put it on the store shelf price label'.
Over here (Europe) for better or worse near 100% store checkouts are digital, regardless of wether you pay with credit or debit card. We get the correct price we will pay displayed on store shelves. We get a breakout of tax on the PoS ticket. In most places we also get a breakout of the price and the promo on the ticket (as in e.g. buy 2 get one free promos).
Yes. I am biased by experience, but I fail to see how not knowing how much you will pay for someting when and where you make the decision to buy it, that is when you take it of the shelf and put it in your cart, can be an advantage you would argue for.
You do realise you are travelling to a foreign country, right? This rings to me like Americans who travel to Spain and complain about the siesta, or Argentina and how late they dine.
Lots of local government means taxes change over smaller distances in America than most of the world. Also, most retailers here use paper labels—a result of historically-low inflation expectations. It’s easier to implement that complexity at check out than on the shelves. (I’d also guess that America’s credit card use means more check-out stations are digital than in much of the world.)
Add to that a cultural distrust of taxation and government, a decreasing tendency to use cash and a higher income per capita and you have a genuine difference in preferences.