We've all been there: you stroll into the bodega that is Epicerie Boulud, casually pick up some charcuterie because you're craving some cured meats then WHAM: they add an unlawful sales tax to your country pâté. State law prevents certain foods from being taxed, but the Post reports that the tax code itself is so confusing that many businesses don't know when it applies. Want proof that the 99% is getting the shaft? A soda tax is discussed before a pâté tax is.
"Even when you want to follow the letter of the law, the New York state Department of Taxation makes it difficult," a spokesman for Boulud told the paper. Tanning salons also apply tax ambiguously: cancer-tanning is subject to a 10% federal tax, whereas sad-spray tanning is not. But the tabloid says that Chelsea's Hollywood Tan applies a 9.35% sales tax on a spray tan. This is probably because the customer asked for the "Lindsay Lohan."
