Sales Tax not included isn't lying, but it is confusing. Especially when you see a price of say 4 for $10, only to have a heap of tax stuck on the top.

You get used to it. I do resent the fact that non Europeans can reclaim VAT on purchases, but non Americans can't do the same with sales tax.

kwren that is DCC and it happens everywhere, including the US. You have to say no to it. Only one time were we unable to do that, in an Indian restaurant in Washington state somewhere, where they suddenly were unable to speak enough English to understand.
It doesn't sound like that is what Cjar means.

Flanner wrote:

"There's no such excuse for the American tradition of lying about prices."

Could you please enlighten?

And I keep hoping something positive besides the great scenery will eventually emerge from the Cotswolds.

LOL, Dukey.

Flanneruk- I was actually stating that in America we routinely nickel and dime people and that I was surprised to find an unexpected charge from our trip to Ireland since it had not been, as Padraig mentions , part of our agreement. I did not find this in any other business we dealt with in Ireland. I was merely surprised and wanted to ensure I wasn't being taken advantage of since this was the only merchant we dealt with who had this practice.

Believe me when I tell you we Americans are not crazy about the many ways in which we are taxed or charged other miscellaneous fees. I have just never had a merchant pass on the fees paid to Visa, MasterCard, Amex, etc. I can completely sympathize with visitors from other countries who get a nasty shock at the register when they are taxed an additional 8-10%. Sometimes we even make large purchases in other states or counties based on the amount of sales tax. It really adds up.

Padraig- Thank you for clarifying. Ireland is an absolutely lovely country that I would love to visit again and next time I'll be aware and not have any "huh?" moments.

Kwren - We did have several people offer to charge us in dollars, but as we were aware of this, we
declined. The company confirmed the charge was a 3% credit card fee. I am sure the more we travel the more we will learn and will have fewer and fewer surprises.

Hetismij2- just out of curiosity, what do you suggest for tourists in the Netherlands? Would a debit card from a bank in the U.S. be processed as a debit card or a credit card? I would hate to carry a ton of cash. What do visitors usually do, I wonder?

<i>I do resent the fact that non Europeans can reclaim VAT on purchases, but non Americans can't do the same with sales tax.</i>

<b>hetismij2</b>, I'm guessing many (most?) visitors from Europe don't realize that there is no national sales tax or VAT in the United States. Rather, each of the 50 states decides whether a state sales tax is levied; what the rate will be; and which items will be covered by it. Only 4 states (Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon) have no sales tax at all. Alaska has no state sales tax but does allow local sales taxes to be levied.

Speaking of which, 37 other states also allow for county and/or municipal sales taxes. And then it is up to the counties and cities to decide whether to levy them, and, if so, at what level. For example, in some states the allowed county and city levies are "up to 1% each." That means a city or county can opt for anything in the range of 0-1%, and they all set them independently.

(FWIW, thought they are not states, the District of Columbia and 3 US territories—Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands—also have sales taxes, while American Samoa does not.)

To further complicate matters, some states tax services (like haircuts, dental visits, consulting), while others do not. And of course <i>which</i> services are taxed varies by state as well.

An entirely different matter is the meals tax, generally for food eaten in restaurants. Often this rate differs from (and if so, is usually higher than) the sales tax. Fortunately, meals are not hit with both taxes! Also, even states with no sales tax usually charge meals taxes.

And lodging tax is also an altogether different matter.

I sympathize with the plight of the international visitor, but trying to reclaim sales tax would be an incredibly tedious job. That's because claims would have to be submitted individually to each taxing state, county, and city in which a purchase was made (unless the state government decided to handle claims for its cities and counties as well). But would you really want to have to figure out whether you were charged county and/or municipal tax on each of your purchases, and WHICH county and/or municipality each purchase was made in, when you went to file for the refund?

That's what comes of being in a federal republic with highly devolved government.

You can take comfort in one thing though, <b>flanner</b>. Every gasoline station <i>does</i> include all of the taxes (including both state and, in this case, federal!) in its posted prices. ;)