Consumers get
stuck with GET

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Hawaii's 4 percent general excise tax is deplorable for many reasons, but particularly despicable is how some merchants treat it as a sales tax.

The GET is not a sales tax. It is a tax on gross receipts. That means if a business charges you a dollar for something, 4 percent of that goes to the state. If the business adds 4 cents to the $1 item, allegedly to cover the tax, the business will pay 4 percent of $1.04.

Offending businesses usually say they are only "passing along" the tax to the consumer. That's true, but misleading. All taxes are passed on to the consumer.

I suggest simplicity -- and honesty. Don't tell me a product costs, say, $2, then add another 8 cents when I get to the cash register. Charge the posted price and leave it at that. Some businesses already do this, bless them, but all of them should.

Besides, why fuss with pennies?

--Mark Coleman

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