The kicker is we already do the “price at point of sale including taxes” thing at gas stations. If it’s $3.09 or whatever per gallon, that’s including state and federal sales tax.

We already see the line item thing on most receipts anyway. We basically do everything except roll the sales tax into the sticker price.

CVS be changing their tape rolls every other customer…

CVS has entered the chat

Use your ip address or GPS location or address to get your location and use a sales tax api product like: https://www.avalara.com/us/en/products/integrations/avalara-api.html

Not an endorsement, just an example that companies already consider this.

They could also just charge one price to everyone and then pay taxes after. I don’t think they have to pass the tax onto the customer like that.

Just charge everyone $10, note where they live, and when taxes are due figure out how much of everyone’s $10 needs to be paid to government

The same way most sites show it today, “Enter zip code:”

And cities. Even some surprisingly small cities charge additional sales tax

A new rule proposed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would ban the sneaky fees some companies slap onto their services at checkout time. Thanks to these junk fees, which have crept into the process of everything from buying concert tickets to booking vacation rentals, the prices consumers initially see are often nowhere near what they end up paying.

The Biden administration has been putting pressure on companies like Ticketmaster and Airbnb to improve their ways, and both recently committed to providing more transparency about their extra charges. The FTC wants to take things a step further by banning the common deceptive tactics altogether. The proposed rule targets both hidden, mandatory fees that aren’t properly disclosed upfront and ambiguous “bogus fees” that leave consumers unsure of what it is they actually had to pay more for.

These practices are misleading, with companies often resorting to “bait-and-switch pricing and misrepresenting the nature and purpose of fees,” the FTC argues in the proposal notice. Under the proposed rule, businesses would have to include these additional fees in their advertised prices, explain what each fee is for and let customers know if any of it is refundable.

The FTC took comments from the public last year to assess the impact of junk fees and ultimately gathered over 12,000 responses to shape its proposal. It’s now opening up comments for 60 days so consumers can weigh in on the rule it’s put forth. “By hiding the total price, these junk fees make it harder for consumers to shop for the best product or service and punish businesses who are honest upfront,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. The proposed rule would "save people money and time, and make our markets more fair and competitive.”

Can you look up the taxes in advance? Sure. Assuming you know to look for local sales tax, and county lodging tax, and the city entertainment tax. But why is that necessary? Why is it helpful to you as the consumer? Do you think the retailer doesn’t know the total price in advance?

Exactly. There’s no reason any of that shouldn’t be included in the advertised price. I’ll never understand people who want to go to bat for practices that are at best asinine, and at worst, deliberately misleading because they place the burden of determining the final price on the consumer before reaching the “checkout” section.