It's just one thing after another.

[tom gray]

Happily I live in NH we have no sales tax. It won't affect what I buy, only what I sell

[Sandpebble]

Actually it's been going on a bit longer than you think.

I sell stuff on Ebay from time to time . Over the past year and a half state sales tax has been charged according to the buyers state.

Kind of a shame that the guy that promised lower tax and fewer regs has forced me to link my Ebay account to a bank account and now you have to pay State Sales Tax on a used item .

Wonder what two regs were eliminated to make room for this new one......

[lyman]

Actually it's been going on a bit longer than you think.

I sell stuff on Ebay from time to time . Over the past year and a half state sales tax has been charged according to the buyers state.

Kind of a shame that the guy that promised lower tax and fewer regs has forced me to link my Ebay account to a bank account and now you have to pay State Sales Tax on a used item .

Wonder what two regs were eliminated to make room for this new one......

I've been selling on ebay since about 2004,

the sales tax thing was in the works long ago,



the linking a bank account to your ebay account, do you use Managed Pay thru ebay?

if so, (and I do) that is because eBay dissed PayPal (Thankfully) and started their own payment management system,

nothing at all to do with the dude in the white house,


ditto the State Sales Tax,, it's not a federal tax

[Sandpebble]

I believe that it was Benjamin Franklin who famously said that the only two certainties are death and taxes. There is no escape from either and to put taxes in perspective, I was just reading an article from the Fraser Institute (a somewhat conservative Canadian think tank) that the average Canadian family pays 42.6% of its gross income in taxes of one sort or another. I think that taxes in the USA are somewhat smaller so be thankful for small mercies.

Mark you mention that taxes here seem to be a bit lower than in Canada ... well that may be so.

But our medical insurance rates would just blow you way .

With a cheesy barely affordable monthly payment health care policy I recently coughed up $10,000 US Dollars on a copay for an outpatient surgery .

You get something for your tax dollar in Canada . I lived in Australia... same deal. Higher tax... more benefits . Never met a Canadian yet that was unhappy with their medical system

[dryheat]

Interesting hearing about the disparity in med coverage between Aussies and Kanucks. Everyone I'm sure has some complaint about health coverage. If a country has limited funds they have to be tight with the benefits. I have to admit; I don't have dental care(luckily, my teeth are pretty good). I have never in my life had a serious accident, so I don't know what that would cost. Mostly, my prescriptions are free. Whoo, Hoo. I get $700 prescriptions(from rendered baby seals) for $1. Believe those numbers if you want to.
A question; How does a tiny state like NH NOT have a sales tax?
-Happily I live in NH we have no sales tax.-
Because it would be so miniscule that it wouldn't help anyway? Which tells me, the funds come from some other place.
-the guy that promised lower tax and fewer regs- I think the lower taxes were for corps.

[Mark in Ottawa]

The big problem with the Canadian medical system is that if it is not an emergency situation, it can be a long wait for a CT scan or an MRI. On the other hand, my wife was diagnosed with a serious problem and in a two week period had a CT scan, an MRI, another type of scan that I had never heard of and whose name I can't remember, a biopsy and sessions with two different specialists. It was quickly determined that she would probably respond to a pill that had been introduced about 18 months ago but was not covered by the provinces pharmaceutical plan for seniors. The pill was approved on an exception basis within three days and she received her first box a couple of days later. In Canada, the pills cost $300 each and in the USA they are about $500 US dollars each and you have to take one per day. I had visions of standing on a street corner with a tin cup and a sign saying "will provide consulting services in exchange for drugs" but in fact we have not had to pay a cent. In my case, I have had three knee replacements and major back surgery. In total, my costs were about $100 and that was mostly for a TV and telephone which are not covered. Bottom line here is that we are all reasonably happy with the medical system.

[dryheat]

Thankfully, you didn't have to donate one of your legs to pay for medical costs. But having extra legs helps. Not everyone has that to fall back on. Medical care is an interesting subject. The financing of medical care is and interesting subject. We need doctors and they need to get paid. They need to get paid a lot. A friend of mine's wife nearly died from a bad tummy tuck(never be the first one to try something new). She got an infection from the surgery. Really sick. In the end it cost something like ONE MILLION DOLLARS! That was over twenty years ago. She lived and lost a lot of weight.