Posted on 02/28/2011 11:42:57 AM PST by raybbr
HARTFORD (AP) Devotees of coupons and discounts are angry at Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposal to slap a new sales tax on the original price of a good or service rather than the discounted price.
Ending the sales tax exemptions for coupons, discounts and automobile trade-ins are among tax exemptions Malloy has proposed ending to help close the state's projected $3.5 billion deficit. For example, the tax would be imposed on the $30 price of a blouse, not the $15 sales price.
Gina Juliano learned firsthand after she lost her job in 2009 as a vice principal in the Hartford Public Schools that coupons and sales can help a family make ends meet. She cut her budget for food, toiletries, pet supplies and paper goods from between $200 and $300 a week to $50. [Sample Our Free Connecticut Business Midday Newsletter]
"I turned to coupons because I would have had to lose my house and everything. I wouldn't have been able to survive," said Juliano, who now writes a blog in Connecticut called Gina's Kokopelli that tracks coupons, sales and bargains for other shoppers.
Like many avid couponers, Juliano pays little or nothing for items after matching coupons with sales. For example, she recently used a $3 coupon to buy a bottle of Gain fabric softener that was on sale for $2.99 at Rite Aid.
(Excerpt) Read more at courant.com ...
According to what I've read the buyer would also be taxed on the difference between the sticker price and the sale price...
Holy cow. The burden on both the consumer and business will likely cause the state to implode. Additionally the administration costs needed to monitor all this will outweigh the revenue.
I wonder who is doing the most complaining? The Dem’s that voted for him naturally.
If they have money in the bank, they obviously have more than they need, and it needs to be redistributed to people who spend every penny they get their hands on.
I can’t think of a better way for the Democrats to endear themselves with women. Keep it up Dems. You’re in charge. Don’t let anyone forget.
Vote for the Dem, suffer by the Dem.
Heads up
In the tradition of Morton’s Fork in English history. Morton was Lord Chancellor for Henry VII, and raised money for the king by forced loans from the nobility. If you lived extravagantly, obviously you had money and could make a loan to the king. If you lived frugally, obviously you were saving money and could make a loan to the king.
Sure, let’s reprogram every cash register and web page in Connecticut. I’ll have it done by tomorrow for free.
I love using coupons, but you rarely find what you want when you want it. I found my self with a lot of free stuff I never wanted anyway, and nothing I did want.
While free stuff is great- it is not free if it takes 4 hours of your time each week (at my pay rate thats a more than than any coupon savings)
I found the best way is to stock up on sales of items you DOD use.
For example, when laundry detergent is buy-one-get-one-free you get a whole case (50% savings over a year) You probably wont see it on sale like that again until you run out.
By the end of a year I have a good couple of cases stocked up of a bunch of things I use all the time, at 50% off (or more)
I have about 12 whole pork loins in my freezer (a foot and a half long each) that I got buy-1-get-1 and thats about my whole years needs for pork.
I found myself needing to shop about once a month (except for quick run-in for fresh veggies and meat)
I am NOT opposed to the idea of taxing the “sale price” of an item, before the coupons are applied. The coupons are a way for the manufacturer to give you back some money, so the “price” of the item is still the same. It would be a little odd that two people would buy the same jar of peanut butter and one would pay more sales tax than the other, simply becuase the other was smart enough to get a coupon (which saved them money on the purchase).
On the other hand, I would strongly oppose taxing the “suggested retail value” rather than the sales price for an item; if the store sells something to everybody at a certain price, THAT is what the item is worth, and that is what tax should be paid on, not some artificial price.
And I oppose (less strongly) taxing car purchases without regard to trade-in value. When the old car was purchased, sales tax was paid. The residual value of the car is a value that is being provided to the dealer as part of the purchase, and it represents an already-taxed value which should not be taxed again.
I say “less strongly” because from a logical perspective, you can argue that the sales price of the car is the total value given for the car, which means both the money and the trade-in. The trade-in has a cash value, and if we ignore that it was already taxed, it is simply another way to meet the purchase price of the car.
But COUPONS? they have no value — they say so right on the coupons, their cash value is virtually nil. You could sell your used car, and then take the cash and more cash and buy a new car.
Again, from a “comparison” argument — it doesn’t makes sense for two people buying the same car for the same total price to pay two different sales tax values, simply because one person sold his used car to the dealer, and another sold it to his neighbor for the same price.
BTW, part of this argument would hinge on whether the purchaser of a used car has to pay sales tax. If the dealership sells that used car and the purchaser pays sales tax, it makes no sense that the person trading it in had to pay sales tax. AND, if the private purchaser (the next-door neighbor) had to pay sales tax to register the car), the seller should have been able to deduct that when buying his next car.
But in the end, it’s kind of silly to try to argue taxes logically; the state legislators, elected by the people, decide how the people would like to pay for their government, and if the people don’t like it, they should vote the legislators out of office.
I would still argue though the consumate principle of taxes — they should be fairly and evenly applied to all people in similar circumstances. Two people making the same purchase with comparable circumstance should pay the same tax.
I love it.
Brilliant way to use coupons!
I somehow don’t think the captains of industry worry much about coupons. It is the mom, housewife/husband(PC) who is most likely to use them along with retirees and students.
This is JUST the group who we need to make pay their fair share right???
Note that Malloy has LOTS of aggressive plans to increase taxes.
He has shown much less aggression in regards to cutting back on spending.
Connecticut is a small state.
It wouldn’t take much to motivate me to cross a state line and buy my goods, with cash.
This will kill business.
Malloy just added more fuel to the fire at his upcoming town hall meetings. That’s assuming his union goons don’t try to stifle any dissenting points of view.
Anyone in the northern half of Connecticut who doesn't take a trip every once in a while to Massachusetts for clothes is crazy. Almost all clothing and shoes under $175 (each) are tax exempt in MA.
Sounds like you were doing some undisciplined couponing. You don’t have to waste your time going out to grab everything that’s ‘free’.
I’m spending a few hours every week in my off hours, but I’m finding that I now pay NOTHING for most household items. I pay nothing for paper products, soap, cat food, cleaning products, junky snack crap that my wife eats, and all toiletries. All that through couponing combined with sales. To work deals, you often have to end up with products you don’t want, but you only do that because it’s part of a larger deal to get you the things that you DO want.
Last month, a deal that I did caused me to end up with a whole lot of sticks of Dove deodorant, which we don’t use. However, that deal got me several month’s worth of cat food, a year’s supply of deodorant and toothpaste that are the brands we like, a bunch of free light bulbs, some cold medicine that my wife uses, several cases of Diet Coke, 16 rolls of paper towels, and a whole lot of laundry detergent.
I’ve got a similar deal going on now and a few more in March.
The price on sale or the coupon price is a “market price”..willing seller and buyer. Taxing above that is the kind of thing that Banana Republic’s do to offset technical smuggling and other corruption. It is truly a bad idea and will just cause companies to change their marketing practice so that the state gets the lower amount. Consumers and retailer aren’t stupid.
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