But I'm from Chicago.....

[coldfire409]

The only problem is that you must have all reciepts and that they must be within a certain peroid of time. Also the refund checks must be mailed to a foreign address. I never was able to spend the required $65 per day to make it worth my while to get a refund of the tax when I came to the United States. Also not all of that tax is refunded. In the case of the United States I was only able to get 4% back, but the tax was 6%. Now visiting Canada you should be able to get back the GST, but not the PST, at least not in Ontario.

[natalie930]

Hey I'm new and not a CM, but I have to say that I have enjoyed reading the rants about stupid guests. I'll make sure that I'm extra nice to you guys when I'm down there in a month :D:
And I know that this is an old thread, but as a native Oregonian, the reason why so many of us think that we don't have to pay sales tax, is because about half of our population lives in Portland, which in case you don't know, is on the border. So if we go up to Vancouver, we can actually show stores, etc. our ID and we don't have to pay sales tax. People probably think that they can do that in all states that have sales tax.
Also, instead of sales tax up here, we have an insane income tax. It doesn't matter how much you make, they take at least 25 PERCENT of it in taxes (fed, ss, and OR). So sorry if some of us get a lil pissy about having to pay YOUR state's tax, when the money we are spending, has technically, already been taxed. ;)
If these people had any sense though, they would realize that they can claim the amount they paid in sales tax, on their Oregon tax returns. They might just have to wait for a year to get the $$ back, but you are all right, they chose to come to CA :)
And I apologize on behalf of any rude and stupid Oregonians. There's no need for that. :lovestruc

[DPRSSDNKY]

I dunno what's so specail about people from chicago, but i wish i were from there.

Wahoo! I knew we were special!! I think we need special treatment because we have to spend half the time correcting people who pronounce the "S" in Illinois.

But if Chicago people get special treatment in CA, does that mean that CA people can go to Six Flags Great America (located in Gurnee, IL) and break the rules and just say "Well, we are from CA, so it doesn't apply to us"

[DPRSSDNKY]

I had a lady argue with me and my lead because she felt that we were ripping her off by making her pay sales tax. Apparently, her husband had told her that when she comes to California not to pay the sales tax because she is a Washington state resident. I told her everybody has to pay sales tax even our international guests. I also expained to her that if I went to Washington I would have to pay sales tax there too. She accused me of lying and told me that I am too naive to understand what she is talking about.

Okay, um I grew up in Washington and we PAY sales tax, so this lady is crazy. Actually the tax is higher than CA, even in L.A. On the ballot last Nov. they wanted to raised it 1% more! It would have been almost 10%. Thankfully, Washingtonians aren't all stupid and voted no (except for my EX roommate who actually thought it was a good idea)

[DPRSSDNKY]

Speaking of taxing anyway...

I had a guest the other day who thought we shouldn't charge tax on food (I was working Honey Spot in Pooh's Corner. They bought a caramel apple and I joked with them that they didn't pay tax, they paid for the stick in it, the container (and the sticker) to put the apple in, the knife to cut it with, the napkins and the bag to carry it, so really they were getting a deal! They went along and thought it was pretty funny too.

[MEng85]

Okay, um I grew up in Washington and we PAY sales tax, so this lady is crazy. Actually the tax is higher than CA, even in L.A. On the ballot last Nov. they wanted to raised it 1% more! It would have been almost 10%. Thankfully, Washingtonians aren't all stupid and voted no (except for my EX roommate who actually thought it was a good idea)

but i hear no state income tax eh? :D:

[Miee]

Having moved from MA to CA, the change in sales tax is shocking. We go from 5% to 8.75% in L.A. County. NH has only property tax.

I don't get it. People go to the sales-taxless states so as to not pay sales tax, but people think they carry their sales-tax rates with them?

Speaking of out of staters, I was once given crap by a pin kiosk worker in AK over my MA ID card when I paid with my credit card for some pins. Apparently she shouldn't take it since it's not actually an ID. I took it back and turned it over and showed her where it said, "This card was issued by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts solely for the purpose of establishing the identification of the bearer."

[Thatguy]

I took it back and turned it over and showed her where it said, "This card was issued by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts solely for the purpose of establishing the identification of the bearer."

Did you say "here's your sign?"

[PirateJohn]

Speaking of out of staters, I was once given crap by a pin kiosk worker in AK over my MA ID card when I paid with my credit card for some pins. Apparently she shouldn't take it since it's not actually an ID. I took it back and turned it over and showed her where it said, "This card was issued by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts solely for the purpose of establishing the identification of the bearer."

I'd get that once in a while when I lived in Mass and had a California ID -- I was in the military so I was a California resident even though I lived in Mass. Most of the time, they'd look at my state or military ID and no problem, but sometimes it would take several minutes.

[DPRSSDNKY]

but i hear no state income tax eh? :D:

Not yet, but they are thinking about it-you know because it works so get for California and all...

Of course why should their taxes be so easy! Only having to file Fed....no fair