Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-03-09
6continued From First Page.)

IContlnueo From rlISL Fase.l
the Districts Sales and Use Tax
Division with a simpler plan for
collecting the tax.
The plan was approved by Wal
ter C. Thompson. assistant adj
ministrator of the division, and
John Dudas, chief auditor. The
tax officials say their approval
was tentative and that they ad-
vised the grocers it would be
withdrawn If the plan aroused
public complaint.
Still In Use.
The simpler plan was installed
at once, however, and is still in
general use in most District gro
ceries.
This is the plan which Mrs.
Snyder says is illegal and with
out any sanction in the law that
I can discover" It works this
way:
The check-out clerk totals all
the non-food items ION which
there should be 2 per cent taxi
and adds to the total a / per
cent tax. Then, he adds to this
new total all the food items and
gets grand total for every
thing. He then figures a per
cent tax on the grand total, adds
it in and presents the customer
with a cash register slip for the
whole bill.
1t seems simple. The food has
been taxed at l per cent as it
should be. The non-food has
been taxed twice at l per cent.
which means the legal 2 per cent
has been applied. The cash reg
lister has done all the addition
and at the end of the day it will
show how many customers were
served.
But look at the results in GER
tain cases, says eagle-eye Mrs.
Snyder, who has been making
test purchases and keeping rec
ords, as well as reading the law.
Breaking Point Set.
Written in the law is the exact
breaking point" between one
cent tax and a two-cent tax, so
there can be no bubble over
fractions. The law for the / per
cent tax on food says that on
purchases of from 20 cents to
$l.27 the tax is l cent. From
$1.28 to $227. the tax is 2 cents.
and so on, penny more tax on
each additional dollar.
For the 2 per cent tax on
rlon-food, the law says that
purchases from IA cents to SO
cents are to be taxed l cent
From 81 cents to $1.13. the tax
is 2 cents, and so on, penny
more tax for each additional
half dollar.
Now look at what can happen
at the grocery counter, says Mrs.
Snyder.
The clerk rang up her two
boxes Of soap powder-62 cents
and added / cent tax. To this
he added the food item-94 cents
and got a grand total of $1.57.
He added 2 cents tax to this and
charged Mrs. Snyder $1.59.
Tax Tables Verify.
Mrs. Snyder objected. She had
paid 3 cents tax, but should only
have been charged 2 cents tax,
she said. Furthermore, she said.
the clerk was figuring tax upon
a tax, even though it didn't cost
her anything in this case.
The tax tables bear her out.
The e. cents worth of soap
should carry a 1-cent tax and
the "a cents worth Of food should
carry another 1-cent tax. and
that's all, a total Of 2 cents.
The grocery store operators
anticipated freaks like this par
ticular situation, however. Al
though they figured that the tax
overcharge could in no case
amount to more than penny
they devised two different meth
ods of getting around it. Both
methods were approved by
District tax people.
In one chain. clerks are in
structed not to add any tax to
the total of non-food items If
the total Is less than 81 cents.
The reason for this is that when
per cent of the grand total OF
all items is figured, the non-foods
will be assessed the proper l
cent.
In another chain. a totally
different set of breaking points"
Is used to avoid occurrences like
Mrs. Snyder's soap-powder case.
In this system, the scale is a
1-cent tax on 81 cents to $3.50,
2 cents on $1.51 to $3.50, and
so on. a penny more tax for
each additional dollar. Even
here. Mrs. Snyder's soap pur-
chase would be overtaxed a
penny, but the number of such
occurrences would be greatly re-
duced.
Uncertainty Over States.
Both systems were approved
verbally by the District tax Off
cials. g.,
Up until yesterday. at least,
there was some uncertainty about
whether official approval had
been withdrawn for the COM
promise systems.
Mr.. Thompson, the assistant
director of the Sales and Use
Tax Division, said his Office had
withdrawn approval last fall,
after receiving complaints from
citizens. Managers of several
chain groceries, however. say
they can find no record Of hav-
ing received such notice.
If and when they are in
structed to comply with the strict
letter of the law, they say, they
will Immediately revamp their