Why don't we add the tax price on goods?

At this time in your life just plan on having one extra dollar in hand for each 9.99 purchase at the store at that time in your life.

Hope that you find the above enclosed information useful. 04/10/2013

"Headphones under 30!" and the price is $29.99."

This actually has nothing to do with tax. It is believed that the x.99 started to force cashiers to ring up sales because if it was an even amount, the cashier could just pocket the money and/or "make change" from their pocket.

Then the marketing people noticed that most people tend to "round down" numbers instead of rounding up. So a price like $29.99 becomes $29 (or even $20 for some). This psychological quirk allows the marketers to make the claim "Under $30!!!!" and make most people feel they are getting a bargain.

The first part about the cashiers may just be myth, but the second part about the psychology of numbers is, unfortunately, true.

As for that tax part of your question, each state regulates it's own tax structure. And some states allow additional taxation on the county/municipal level. So, to create an advertising campaign that took into account all these different rates (and therefore end price) would be impossible and prohibitively expensive.

They'd also have to post multiple prices if there was a manufacturer's coupon available as coupons reduce the price (rebates do not). And "Instant Rebates" are essentially a coupon.

for one thing if perchance you might get a discount on the purchase of the item, the discount cannot be calculated on the total price, including sales tax--that cannot be discounted

and you cannot deny that $29.99 is less than $30

this is a traditional marketing tool to price things less than an even dollar amount, it makes people(not you apparently) that the price is better(less)

A lot of advertising is created for the whole US so the prices in there need to reflect the price of the good for all US locations. Sales tax rates vary quite a bit - from 0% to over 10% depending on the city - so it would be very costly for each store to create advertisements for each location if they included sales tax.

If you are having difficulty determining the total cost of your goods, you can use http://www.sale-tax.com/ to get your city's rate and http://www.sale-tax.com/Calculator to compute the total cost of the items you are buying.

Wow that's such a pathetic thin to complain about.

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