Election Reform
It’s more than time for election reform.
States need to reform elections.
Government-issued photo ID required. The Left keeps trying to pretend that Voter ID is a special entity in and of itself when it isn’t. It’s only a government-issued photo ID which nearly every adult of voting age who wishes to register to vote already has and if they don’t can be obtained for free. Drivers license, State ID, Passport, Military ID, Trusted Traveler Card…
Voter Registration sunsets and must be renewed just like a driver’s license, state ID, Passport. Say every five years. If you don’t renew when it sunsets you can re-register, but otherwise, you are purged. People who have moved away or died will, of course, not be renewing, so they’ll get purged.
No same-day registration. Everyone knows when the elections are held. There is plenty of time to register to vote.
Early voting limited to one week prior to election day including a weekend. None of this weeks-and-weeks of early voting and speculating on who is ahead.
The Federal Government can “encourage” consistency amongst the several states like it did with the drinking age or the 55 mph speed limit…
California Tax Insanity
My cousin just posted this on Facebook:
Just had to pay $42 in sales tax for a $99 replacement iPhone! Called apple because I thought it was a mistake, but nope, it’s just the state of California charging tax on the highest allowable price. The rep told me the state was worried about getting its cut. I’m SURE the extra money will be well spent!
She was charged the tax on the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of the iPhone not the amount she was actually charged.
Does this mean that California customers can be charged tax on the “$110 Value” of the Yoshi Blue pan, the absolutely free ceramic mandolin, and the venting glass lid (just pay separate S&H) instead of on the $19.95 (plus S&H) that the firm actually charges?
According to Find The Best the California sales tax rate varies from 7.25% to 9.75% depending on location.
At the lowest rate sales tax is $1.45 on the $19.95 price. It’s $7.98 on the $110 value price.
At the highest rate sales tax is $1.95 on the $19.95 price. It’s $10.73 on the $110 value price.
So the state can steal more from you by assessing sales tax on the “value” of the item rather than the price paid.
In the Yoshi Blue case it’s $6.53 at the lowest sales tax rate, $8.78 on the highest sales tax rate.
In my cousin’s case she should have paid 8.75% on the $99 price of her replacement iPhone: $8.66. Instead she paid $33.34 more based on the iPhone’s MSRP.
MSRP can be anything that the manufacturer wants. The suggested retail price is just that, a suggestion. Retailers will charge whatever they want to based on many different factors. There’s the wholesale price, markup, deciding if the item will be a loss leader or if the retailer just wants to reduce inventory and places the item on sale.
So, when is sales tax charged on “value” rather than “price”? When it’s California charging it.
