The Coffee House

limr · Feb 28, 2023

cgw said:
A mere 3 inches is just too tough on the dog teams up here!

Meanwhile, it's enough to cripple all of D.C.

snowbear · Feb 28, 2023

limr said:
Meanwhile, it's enough to cripple all of D.C.

Well, all but a couple of us. :tennis:

limr · Feb 28, 2023

SquarePeg said:
I like the snow as well but the many many warm days we had got my spring fever up and now I’m counting the days!

It's definitely having the opposite effect on me. Then again, I never have spring fever. I mean, spring itself is okay, I guess, but it leads to summer and so it doesn't really get any love from me. And after a lame-ass winter like this? I'll be even more resentful than I already am.

cgw · Feb 28, 2023

limr said:
It's definitely having the opposite effect on me. Then again, I never have spring fever. I mean, spring itself is okay, I guess, but it leads to summer and so it doesn't really get any love from me. And after a lame-ass winter like this? I'll be even more resentful than I already am.

It's erratic up here but nasty whenever real winter visited this year. Haven't busted any shear pins on the snowblower so far--usually an index of prolonged heavy storms. Snow drops and aconite took a chance a few weeks back but got whacked. Another big drop Friday. Note to self--must visit my friends at the liquor store before then.

limr · Feb 28, 2023

cgw said:
It's erratic up here but nasty whenever real winter visited this year. Haven't busted any shear pins on the snowblower so far--usually an index of prolonged heavy storms. Snow drops and aconite took a chance a few weeks back but got whacked. Another big drop Friday. Note to self--must visit my friends at the liquor store before then.

I'm mostly annoyed that I didn't get to break out my new cordless snow blower. I bought it in the fall, but we've had basically no snow at all so I didn't even have it out of the box. But today's snow was deep enough and heavy enough that I had to break out my existing corded snow blower, which works fine, but dealing with that cord is a huge pain in the ass. Oh well, maybe next year.

cgw · Feb 28, 2023

Found that cordless+cold don't mix well for longer runs up here. Not happy about old school blowers but they deliver when it's really cold and snow is deep+spread widely on long wide driveways and walks.

Rickbb · Feb 28, 2023

Our snow blowers here bouts is the wind. We have not seen a single flake this year although the temp went to 6 one night.

smoke665 · Mar 1, 2023

Just goes to show that you have to check everything. We order a lot from Amzaon and have it shipped to our home. Hadn't paid much attention to the amount of sales tax charged (in my defense they only show an amount), but last week had one of those orders where I was able to easily calculate it in my dusty brain, it was 3% higher than it should have been. I went back over the history on the account and it had been that way for a long time. Even more confusing the tax rate they were using didn't correlate to anything. Finally was able to get a CS on the line who was able to "supposedly" get it fixed, we'll see. Lesson learned pay attention, 3% over the past several years adds up.

smoke665 · Mar 2, 2023

Footnote to the above, I solved the question of why I was being overcharged. It isn't Amazon, it's my own "$%&*$#& state. To "entice" online companies to collect sales taxes, In 2015, enacted the Simplified Seller Use Tax Remittance Act.[8] Instead of collecting a combined state and local tax that ranges from 4 to 11 percent in different parts of the state, the Act allows sellers to collect a flat 8 percent tax on every sale made to customers in the state. It also allows customers located in areas with tax rates below 8 percent to receive a refund or credit from the state to reimburse them for the amount they were overcharged.

Interesting that there's no provision for municipalities with higher rates to collect underpayments. Since retail stores are located in municipalities with higher local taxes, the state gave online retailers a 4% price advantage over the brick and mortar stores. Then they turn around and give huge tax incentives to build big distribution warehouses paid for by tax dollars supplied by the local businesses. Do we live in a great country or what?

footnote: It isn't just Amazon, some other online retailers are doing the same. So far I've discovered some big ticket items ordered from B&H were charged at the flat rate also. 3% on 3-4k adds up quickly. :icon_eek:

SquarePeg · Mar 2, 2023

smoke665 said:
Footnote to the above, I solved the question of why I was being overcharged. It isn't Amazon, it's my own "$%&*$#& state. To "entice" online companies to collect sales taxes, In 2015, enacted the Simplified Seller Use Tax Remittance Act.[8] Instead of collecting a combined state and local tax that ranges from 4 to 11 percent in different parts of the state, the Act allows sellers to collect a flat 8 percent tax on every sale made to customers in the state. It also allows customers located in areas with tax rates below 8 percent to receive a refund or credit from the state to reimburse them for the amount they were overcharged.

Interesting that there's no provision for municipalities with higher rates to collect underpayments. Since retail stores are located in municipalities with higher local taxes, the state gave online retailers a 4% price advantage over the brick and mortar stores. Then they turn around and give huge tax incentives to build big distribution warehouses paid for by tax dollars supplied by the local businesses. Do we live in a great country or what?

footnote: It isn't just Amazon, some other online retailers are doing the same. So far I've discovered some big ticket items ordered from B&H were charged at the flat rate also. 3% on 3-4k adds up quickly.

Wish I’d seen this before I checked my last 10 Amazon orders for tax discrepancies!

smoke665 · Mar 2, 2023

SquarePeg said:
Wish I’d seen this before I checked my last 10 Amazon orders for tax discrepancies!

In looking into this I've discovered that there are almost 15,000 different sales tax rates/combinations across the country. The local authorities were apparently ill prepared to deal with collecting online taxes, so apparently many states came up with a "flat rate" tax for online retailers. We have a flat 8% rate for anything shipped in. There's a 4% state tax, a 1% county, and anywhere from 1-7% local city tax. If you buy within the city or have something delivered to an address in a city you are supposed to pay that rate, if you live in the county you pay that rate. So people living in a city are getting a break with the flat tax of up to 3-7%, while in the county we get dinged for an extra 3%. The first thing I'd do is check to see if your state has a flat tax rate for online retailers.

So far on some big ticket items ordered and delivered over the last 3 years, I've accumulated almost $300 in refunds due from the state.

jeffashman · Mar 2, 2023

smoke665 said:
In looking into this I've discovered that there are almost 15,000 different sales tax rates/combinations across the country. The local authorities were apparently ill prepared to deal with collecting online taxes, so apparently many states came up with a "flat rate" tax for online retailers. We have a flat 8% rate for anything shipped in. There's a 4% state tax, a 1% county, and anywhere from 1-7% local city tax. If you buy within the city or have something delivered to an address in a city you are supposed to pay that rate, if you live in the county you pay that rate. So people living in a city are getting a break with the flat tax of up to 3-7%, while in the county we get dinged for an extra 3%. The first thing I'd do is check to see if your state has a flat tax rate for online retailers.

So far on some big ticket items ordered and delivered over the last 3 years, I've accumulated almost $300 in refunds due from the state.

Texas has had a flat 8% online sales tax since 2019, which works for me, since my local sales tax is 8.25%. Now they are talking about eliminating the property tax, which should be interesting. As a home owner, I'm for that, but I smell a sales tax increase to offset the difference if they do that. We'll see.

SquarePeg · Mar 2, 2023

smoke665 said:
In looking into this I've discovered that there are almost 15,000 different sales tax rates/combinations across the country. The local authorities were apparently ill prepared to deal with collecting online taxes, so apparently many states came up with a "flat rate" tax for online retailers. We have a flat 8% rate for anything shipped in. There's a 4% state tax, a 1% county, and anywhere from 1-7% local city tax. If you buy within the city or have something delivered to an address in a city you are supposed to pay that rate, if you live in the county you pay that rate. So people living in a city are getting a break with the flat tax of up to 3-7%, while in the county we get dinged for an extra 3%. The first thing I'd do is check to see if your state has a flat tax rate for online retailers.

So far on some big ticket items ordered and delivered over the last 3 years, I've accumulated almost $300 in refunds due from the state.

Massachusetts has a 6.25% sales tax. As far as I’m aware there are no local or county sales taxes but maybe that’s. Just in this part of the state. I’ve traveled to tax free NH for some larger purchases like electronics and also enjoyed many years of tax free Amazon so pretty sure I’m in the black on this one. Up until very recently, Adorama and B and H were not charging sales tax online - saved a pretty penny there as well.