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Originally Posted by epitome
The only one that really surprised me is the nursing home but they changed that and canceled the bill.
I've always figured the rule of thumb is if you are selling something you can touch, sales tax is due. If you are selling something you do, no sales tax is due.
Spending needs to be cut, but in most of those instances, people should have been collecting sales tax.
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Many states have "sales taxes" on services (intangibles). There's 50 states and 50 totally different sets of rules. Some times if a repairman fixes your furnace, the repair maybe tax free, or might be taxed. Same way with the parts.
Truth is, these guys should have had accountants, who actually knew the law in their state and paid accordingly. Not saying it's fair, but it's the law.
Some states also exempt some tangibles. Example, several states exempt the sale of gold & silver bullion, but not all.
In the case of the dentist, the state considered that the price of "free toothbrush" was included in the $200+ cleaning and if that state charged sales tax on dental services then he should pay. Dentist is crying over a few cents in sales tax on a $200+ cleaning for 15 minutes work?!? However if Crest gave him those toothbrushes free, it might be a different story.
Sales tax laws are as crazy as income tax laws. I worked on a project for a major movie theatre company, to get a multi-million dollar refund in Florida. It had to do with sales tax on food & drink. Florida exempted sales tax on "leased concession stands." Since they leased the entire building, the argument was the stand was also leased. They won every year.