You really have to be careful what you say around your children, or for that matter around any child. They tend to take what adults say quite literally. Take for example this short story about the little girl who went shopping in the local drug store for a Mother's Day gift that was not a taxable item.

“Is there tax on this lady?”

A sweet little girl voice drifted through the air directing her question to the older woman behind the counter at the front of the Drug Store. She was holding a little basket with a small bottle of perfume and a little stuffed bear in it.

“Why, yes dear there is tax on that item. Do you need to know how much the gift will cost with the tax?”

“No Ma’am. I just needed to know if there was tax on it.”

After that the little girl turned and walked to the counter where she had originally picked up her item and put it back and then she went off to shop in another aisle. After a few more minutes she came up to the front of the store with a box of chocolates.

“Excuse me Ma’am. I sorry to bother you again, but is there tax on this candy?”

“Yes dear there is tax on candy. Some food doesn’t have tax on it in this particular part of the country but candy does have tax on it. Now a loaf of bread does not have tax on it but most candy does because it’s considered a luxury in this state.”

“Oh, I see”, said the little girl and again she turned and headed to another aisle to shop and in a short while she returned to the counter carrying a loaf of bread and a bag of cough drops.”

“Excuse me again Ma’am, but I know you told me there isn’t any tax on this loaf of bread but how about these cough drops? They are sort of like candy but not really candy because they have medicine in them.”

“You are very correct little Miss. There’s no tax on the bread or the cough drops. Do you mind me asking you why you are so concerned about whether there’s tax on your purchases?”

“Well, I’m trying to buy a present for my Mom for Mother's Day and my Mom always says that we’re being taxed to death and so I don’t want to buy her anything with tax on it because I don’t want my Mom to die from my Mother's Day gift.”

The lady behind the counter was so touched by the comment and the obvious love and concern that the little girl had for her Mother that she looked like she might cry. Then she looked down at the little girl holding the bread and the cough drops and asked her another question.

“Do you think that your Mother would like the first gift that you picked out for her the best.”

“Oh yes”, replied the little girl. “She would love that little basket with the perfume and the bear in it.”

“Well, you know what, I was mistaken. That particular item was a special purchase brought in just for Mother's Day and it does not have tax on it. So if that’s what you really want to get for you Mom I think that’s what you should get her.”

The little girl was obviously very excited as she returned the bread and the cough drops to their original shelves and went and got the basket and handed it to the Clerk. The Clerk checked it out and handed it to the little girl.

“Thank you very much for your help Ma’am.”

"You're very welcome. I'm sure your Mother will be very happy with her gift and she's very lucky to have such a thoughtful little girl."

The very polite little girl headed over to her Dad who had been waiting at the front door of the store while she made her selection and she left the store with a big grin on her face very well pleased that she had purchased something she thought was very special for her Mother that would not tax her to her death. Then the sales lady who also had a big grin on her face got her purse from under the counter and rang up the sales tax for the item and put it in the cash register drawer.

Just an FYI note - sales tax laws vary by location.

And

A Word To The Wise - Remember always choose your words very carefully when children are around!

If you’re still lucky enough to have your Mother to celebrate Mother's Day with and are looking for something special for them take a look at the items Amazon thinks would make nice gifts for your Mom.

For some nice gift ideas for Mother's Day from Amazon.com click here


I hope you're enjoying Tax Facts on the Taxing Subject of Taxes!

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