Last Friday, I heard on the radio that the proposed ½% increase in New York City’s sales tax has been approved, making the total sales tax in the city 8.875%. The announcer on the radio said that the increase will bring the city an additional $60 million a month.
That means that people spend, on average, $1.2 billion a month on sales-tax–eligible purchases in New York City. That’s staggering, at some level. Though, I suppose when you consider the population of the city — more than 8 million in the five boroughs — and others in the area who buy things in the city, plus visitors... it doesn’t really come out to that much per person.
When I think of it that way, I wonder that it’s not more.
1 comment:
Indeed. Using naive math, $1.2 billion per month for a population of 8 million works out to $5/person/day of taxable purchases (assuming a 30-day month). Granted that I don't know which purchases are considered taxable sales (I'm more used to the Canadian GST which applies to pretty much everything), but it still does seem a bit low.
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