Chris Barker wrote:
> So do I ...
>
> ... but it's not a toy, Moose. Oh no! It's an important tool for an
> enthusiastic photographer.
>
They are all toys, Chris, including your aircraft. I was just talking to
a friend who recently turned 65. He is reluctant to retire in part
because as he puts it. "They pay me to play with the coolest toys
around." He is a mainframe systems person.
> And I should have bought one by now, at that price; but they are more than
> that in sterling Over Here :-(
>
Doesn't seem fair, does it? On the other hand, at least part of the
difference is taxes that provide health care, something we are going
through great political anguish to again avoid. Except for some of the
cost of caring for us "old folks".
In the US, we can't even agree on taxes on stuff bought across state
lines on the web. If I pay state taxes on this purchase, which is on a
widely ignored honor system, it will add almost $45 to the cost. Amazon
maintains a huge warehouse just over the state line in Nevada, which has
no inventory tax and doesn't charge sales tax on out of state sales.
Amazon is also careful not to have any bricks and mortar presence in
Calif. as that would then subject them to collecting sales tax on all
sales to Calif. addresses.
California businesses are actually at a significant disadvantage selling
to their own state over the internet.
On the other hand, they have somehow forced cell phone providers and
others offering similar rebates in return for term contracts to collect
sales tax on the full price, not the one buyers are charged for.
Our state is drowning in budget shortfalls, yet our governor refuses to
consider actual mandatory collection of taxes on stuff bought out of
state. I guess that would break his "no new taxes" pledge. I make no
judgments about who's right and wrong, if such a thing is actually
determinable, only report the strange and convoluted facts.
Moose
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