Sales Tax in Orlando?

[quinda]

Whenever I'm in the USA I always get caught out by what I thought was a bargain, then the sales tax gets added on

I know it varies from place to place, so what is the rate in Orlando? Is it around 7%?

Also, what does it apply to? I never quite figured that out - it seems like groceries are exempt - is there anything else that it doesn't apply to?

Thanks in advance.

[spondishy]

Yep its about 6.5% and is levied on most retail purchases. 12% on hotel rooms I believe.

[Hypnotique]

That's a pretty good tax rate. Adds up to be quite a bit cheaper than what we have here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This will definitely help me out when I'm making purchases on my visit in Orlando. Thanks for informing us about this spondishy, I am glad to see that it is cheaper there.

[quinda]

Thanks from me too spondishy!

What is the sales tax in Oklahoma, Hypnotique? I'm just curious

I find it hard to get used to the whole sales tax thing, in the UK our VAT is 17.5%, but it is displayed as part of the price, so you know exactly what you will pay before you get to the till.

On some electronic goods the brice with and without VAT is displayed, but you almost never see just the base price.

I hate thinking I've got a bargain while on holiday then getting the tax added on.

[bustour]

I wish the prices were displayed with the tax as well. It would save a lot of confusion for foreign travelers.
The 6.5% rate that spondishy mentions is not that bad. A lot of tourist locations have higher rates than that. 8.0% and higher are not unheard of.

[45ish]

I too like when prices are listed and it says "includes tax" that's very helpful for the visitors that are not from that particular state, or country for that matter.

I did not know there was a state sales tax in Florida. I thought Florida was a state tax free state. Maybe that's just for the income tax on your wages.

I think edible groceries are untaxed in most states.(this changes year to year, so I'm not sure)
Where I live, you purchase all of your edibles tax free except for soda and candy. Also, when you buy any alcohol products, there is not sales tax charged at the cash registers. All taxes are included in the selling price on alcohol. Fuel prices are sold with no additional tax added at the register also.

[quinda]

I hadn't realised it was so complicated!

Are things like fast food / restraunts excluded from sales tax too? I honestly don't remember what it was like last time I was on holiday - I just got into the habit of rounding everything up an extra 10% (easy math wise) so that there were never any nasty suprises at the till.

[rsteven]

Yes, unfortunately the prepared food has sales tax added to it by the place selling it.

It really does get complicated when you have to figure taxes as they vary from place to place. I'm not sure what restaurant server wages are in other countries but in US they are pretty low. And usually the servers are responsible for 8% of their sales in tip taxes. So remember when you are tipping your server, they may be giving 8% of it to the government.

Some places do tax on groceries and some don't.
I guess the safe way is to do like you're doing and add a cool 10% to the price and then just enjoy the change back when it comes your way.

[quinda]

I hadn't realised that waitresses were taxed on their tips. How does that work if you tip with cash? I'd have thought that would be untraceable....

Waitress wages are fairly low in the UK - often minimum wage I feel pretty sorry for them having to rely on tips to get a half respectable wage.

I'll just stick to my lazy 10%

[Lucien]

They always don't include the tax because it makes all the items look cheaper. You can't expect anything in Orlando to be free, besides the water fountains. Everything else, you pretty much have to pay for which is ridiculous sometimes. However, I guess that's what you get when you're in one of the best places in the world.