Quick. Simple. Easy.
As for the receipt printed off, it looks like this:
Sticker price: $100
23% FED: $23
3% STATE: $3
1.5% CITY: $1.50
Quick. Simple. Easy. and WRONG!
You charged the customer $23 in federal sales taxes for a $72.50 item when you should have charged them $21.65 (unless you are trying to tell us the feds are going to tax state and local sales taxes). As I was trying to explain, you can't add individual tax inclusive sales tax rates. Every tax rate you add or change affects the "gross payment" thereby changing the amount of tax the different rates collect.
Example. A $100 dollar item bought in Austin, Texas:
Austin, Texas Statutory Individual Inclusive Rate Exclusive Rate Dollar Amount Real Inclusive RateItem Cost $100.00 Federal 23.00% 29.87% $29.87 21.63% State 5.88% 6.25% $6.25 4.53% City 1.96% 2.00% $2.00 1.45% Total 30.84% 38.12% $138.12 27.60%
Drive 1 mile south to Pflugerville, Texas (yes, that's a real city):
Pflugerville, Texas Statutory Individual Inclusive Rate Exclusive Rate Dollar Amount Real Inclusive RateItem Cost $100.00 Federal 23.00% 29.87% $29.87 21.70% State 5.88% 6.25% $6.25 4.54% City 1.48% 1.50% $1.50 1.09% Total 30.36% 37.62% $137.62 27.34%
Notice how the real inclusive rates have to change when you modify the city rate? When you change that rate you change the "gross payment" and your 23% inclusive federal rate is now collecting 23% of a different amount than the other city. Also notice how easy it is to add the tax exclusive sales tax rates. It's the natural way to express the additive sales tax.
Again, using the tax inclusive rate for sales taxes is not a matter of preference, it's flat out wrong. Just as it would be wrong to use exclusive rates with an income tax (similar things would happen).
Y'all can be reasonable, realize the error, and make a change; or continue to hang on and go down with the "tax inclusive" ship. I really don't know why y'all are so insistent on the tax inclusive rate anyway.