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bob dobbs is dead posted:if you think the drinks cost $7 to the casino you are the one who is bwm Probably the number one cost component of all those drinks is liquor sin taxes and the implied expense of owning a liquor license. Why Americans generally put up with having the piss taxed out of alcohol and just shrug our shoulders and say well I guess a cocktail costs $13, is really beyond me.
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Oct 9, 2017 16:58
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Hoodwinker posted:I don't know if that's really BWM. They're pretty self-aware of the problem and actively trying to fix it. They just don't make a lot of money to begin with, which compounds the issue further. To top it off they sound early-20's. I'm not a huge fan of where he/she first says to have problems with spending too much and then mentions to want to get a credit card. I'd suggest getting rid of problem 1 before getting onto problem 2.
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Oct 9, 2017 17:01
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:Probably the number one cost component of all those drinks is liquor sin taxes and the implied expense of owning a liquor license. Why Americans generally put up with having the piss taxed out of alcohol and just shrug our shoulders and say well I guess a cocktail costs $13, is really beyond me. It's our only escape
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Oct 9, 2017 17:07
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:Probably the number one cost component of all those drinks is liquor sin taxes and the implied expense of owning a liquor license. Why Americans generally put up with having the piss taxed out of alcohol and just shrug our shoulders and say well I guess a cocktail costs $13, is really beyond me. It's basically the only kind of tax that can get passed anymore because you can only tax The Bad People Who Deserve It
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Oct 9, 2017 17:12
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uXs posted:I'm not a huge fan of where he/she first says to have problems with spending too much and then mentions to want to get a credit card. ate all the Oreos posted:It's basically the only kind of tax that can get passed anymore because you can only tax The Bad People Who Deserve It
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Oct 9, 2017 17:14
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Hoodwinker posted:God Bless Our Puritanical Roots. I'm still amazed that this country was founded by people too uptight for the British.
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Oct 9, 2017 17:18
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BigDave posted:I'm still amazed that this country was founded by people too uptight for the British. British people aren't all that uptight - more "falling down drunk" in general.
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Oct 9, 2017 17:20
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BigDave posted:I'm still amazed that this country was founded by people too uptight for the British. American ideas of British social mores mostly comes from inaccurate Victorian era period drama and tropes about British politeness.
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Oct 9, 2017 17:25
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Incidentally, early Puritans drank hard in the colonies. I read Drinking in America by Susan Cheever and there's a host of historical BWM in there, but also bad with livers. The Mayflower was dangerously low on beer when it got to Plymouth Rock, and the captain was not incluned to let the fanatics he was dropping off have the booze his crew needed for thier trip back to England, and they would all run out of alcohol too soon if they tried to make it to Virginia.
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Oct 9, 2017 17:31
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crazypeltast52 posted:Incidentally, early Puritans drank hard in the colonies. Another reminder about this contest https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3825254
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Oct 9, 2017 17:48
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crazypeltast52 posted:The Mayflower was dangerously low on beer when it got to Plymouth Rock, and the captain was not incluned to let the fanatics he was dropping off have the booze his crew needed for thier trip back to England, and they would all run out of alcohol too soon if they tried to make it to Virginia. Dwarf fortress: an accurate rendition of pre-20th century European life.
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Oct 9, 2017 17:54
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I question the judgement of any grown adult who goes to Dave and Buster's by themselves. Let alone spends $64 there.
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Oct 9, 2017 18:41
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:I question the judgement of any grown adult who goes to Dave and Buster's by themselves. But I spent 64$ on food in 2 weeks. Dave and busters (64$)
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Oct 9, 2017 18:51
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Good Parmesan posted:But I spent 64$ on food in 2 weeks. Is he lumping drinks and video games into the food category there or did he seriously buy like eight orders of microwaved chicken wings.
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Oct 9, 2017 18:53
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Tiny Brontosaurus posted:Is he lumping drinks and video games into the food category there or did he seriously buy like eight orders of microwaved chicken wings. It's a she and I didn't even notice that the Dave and Buster's amount was the same as the food budget, lol.
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Oct 9, 2017 18:57
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:Probably the number one cost component of all those drinks is liquor sin taxes and the implied expense of owning a liquor license. Why Americans generally put up with having the piss taxed out of alcohol and just shrug our shoulders and say well I guess a cocktail costs $13, is really beyond me. Cocktails don't cost $13 due to taxes, dude. They cost $13 because that's the price people are willing to pay for them. The cost of the ingredients, inclusive of taxes, is a fraction of that.
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Oct 9, 2017 19:43
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Vox Nihili posted:Cocktails don't cost $13 due to taxes, dude. They cost $13 because that's the price people are willing to pay for them. The cost of the ingredients, inclusive of taxes, is a fraction of that. Obviously there are many factors that make alcohol at bars expensive, but in my county, where liquor is sold by the state monopoly ABC stores, the end price markup is something like a 1100% in federal+state excise taxes and monopoly "profits" between the wholesale distilled price and the counter at the liquor store. You can then tack on the additional liquor license mixed beverage tax stamp fee that is paid by the fifth by the license holder, and finally sales tax paid at the bar on the drink. So yes obviously the raw materials of the drink do not cost $13 as just one example of the price of a cocktail, but in virtually every case, the most expensive ingredient in any alcoholic beverage you purchase is tax.
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Oct 9, 2017 19:59
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:Obviously there are many factors that make alcohol at bars expensive, but in my county, where liquor is sold by the state monopoly ABC stores, the end price markup is something like a 1100% in federal+state excise taxes and monopoly "profits" between the wholesale distilled price and the counter at the liquor store. You can then tack on the additional liquor license mixed beverage tax stamp fee that is paid by the fifth by the license holder, and finally sales tax paid at the bar on the drink. So yes obviously the raw materials of the drink do not cost $13 as just one example of the price of a cocktail, but in virtually every case, the most expensive ingredient in any alcoholic beverage you purchase is tax. A study of 60 years of alcohol prices/taxes from 2012 says: quote:Alcoholic beverages sold for off-premises consumption are more affordable today than at any time in the past 60 years; dramatic increases in affordability occurred particularly in the 1960s and 1970s. Declines in real prices are a major component of this change. quote:Alcohol excise taxes vary greatly between states and even types of alcoholic beverages. The average person pays approximately 26% higher prices for alcohol through excise taxes. The highest taxed alcohol in the nation, Washington State, can cost consumers approximately 63% more than wholesale through excise taxes.
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Oct 9, 2017 20:05
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:Obviously there are many factors that make alcohol at bars expensive, but in my county, where liquor is sold by the state monopoly ABC stores, the end price markup is something like a 1100% in federal+state excise taxes and monopoly "profits" between the wholesale distilled price and the counter at the liquor store. You can then tack on the additional liquor license mixed beverage tax stamp fee that is paid by the fifth by the license holder, and finally sales tax paid at the bar on the drink. So yes obviously the raw materials of the drink do not cost $13 as just one example of the price of a cocktail, but in virtually every case, the most expensive ingredient in any alcoholic beverage you purchase is tax. I'm sure it varies by state, but in my state you can find $15 cocktails and $5 mixed drinks in the same high-COL cities. I expect the most expensive component in almost every case is the actual liquor, probably followed by the cost of labor, or maybe tax if you lump all of the taxes together (payroll, sales, liquor, etc.)
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Oct 9, 2017 20:13
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In Washington State, your $15 vodka cocktail (with 3 oz of vodka) is approximately $2 in alcohol excise tax.
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Oct 9, 2017 20:16
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:In Washington State, your $15 vodka cocktail (with 3 oz of vodka) is approximately $2 in alcohol excise tax. And Washington is a pretty extreme outlier, with an excise tax some 5-10 times higher than average. In California, the alcohol in that martini would incur less than $0.20 in excise taxes (state & federal).
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Oct 9, 2017 20:26
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:A study of 60 years of alcohol prices/taxes from 2012 says: That study looks like it's for packaged goods and not drinks at a bar though.
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Oct 9, 2017 20:49
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brugroffil posted:That study looks like it's for packaged goods and not drinks at a bar though. Yeah, but the original post was about buying from an ABC store. I was just noting the person who said that bars have to charge $15 because of taxes is wrong.
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Oct 9, 2017 20:51
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Cocktails are probably expensive because they are a premium item that requires the bartender to do more than pour - there's usually some mixing, shaking, and salting of the rim of the glass involved. A bartender can pour four beers in the time it takes a reasonably complex cocktail. GWM: Making them at home. They are easy and impress a party.
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Oct 9, 2017 21:02
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Vox Nihili posted:And Washington is a pretty extreme outlier, with an excise tax some 5-10 times higher than average. In California, the alcohol in that martini would incur less than $0.20 in excise taxes (state & federal). Washington liquor taxes being flat by volume is regressive, as poor people generally drink the cheapest stuff and thus pay a much higher proportion of tax.
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Oct 9, 2017 21:13
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Fuzzy Mammal posted:Washington liquor taxes being flat by volume is regressive, as poor people generally drink the cheapest stuff and thus pay a much higher proportion of tax. It's both flat and based on value. There is a flat liquor tax of $3.77/L at retail, or $2.44/L for restaurants/bars. But then on top of that there is also a 20.5% sales tax at retail, or 13.7% for restaurants/bars. We've got far-and-away the highest state liquor taxes here in Washington. It was the deal with the devil we made to privatize liquor sales a few years ago. Granted we had high taxes through the state-run liquor monopoly before, too, but not as high as now. Fortunately the private liquor prices have come down quite a bit after the initial change over, but booze is still pricey as hell here. At least most grocery and liquor stores now post both the before and after tax price. There were drat-near riots when privatization first happened and the stores only showed the pre-tax price, but then you go to the checkout counter and your $20 fifth of whiskey rang up at almost $30. Guinness fucked around with this message at 21:25 on Oct 9, 2017 |
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Oct 9, 2017 21:18
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Guinness posted:At least most grocery and liquor stores now post both the before and after tax price. There were drat-near riots when privatization first happened and the stores only showed the pre-tax price, but then you go to the checkout counter and your $20 fifth of whiskey rang up at almost $30. Canada did the same thing when it introduced a federal sales tax. IIRC merchants weren't obligated to show the after-tax total and never did so they wouldn't be seen as raising prices. I do love buying things in the EU without having to mentally figure out taxes and tip.
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Oct 9, 2017 21:36
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Apparently homosexuals don't pay taxes because mixed drinks at gay bars are wicked cheap.
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Oct 9, 2017 21:39
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Guest2553 posted:Canada did the same thing when it introduced a federal sales tax. IIRC merchants weren't obligated to show the after-tax total and never did so they wouldn't be seen as raising prices. I do love buying things in the EU without having to mentally figure out taxes and tip. I so so so wish more places would post after-tax prices. I hate having to mentally add 10% to everything to know the true price, and even worse for things that don't fall under the normal sales tax umbrella. It's so nice being in foreign countries where the posted price is exactly what you get rung up for at the register. We have this stupid mentality in the US where all the Grover Norquist types want taxes of all forms to be as big of a pain in the rear end and in-your-face as possible. Can't make life easy and have people get comfortable with the idea of paying taxes! It just seems to childish to line-item out things like taxes just to call attention to the fact that you had to pay sales tax.
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Oct 9, 2017 21:46
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Krispy Wafer posted:Apparently homosexuals don't pay taxes because mixed drinks at gay bars are wicked cheap. It's part of the Gay Agenda, don't tell anyone 
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Oct 9, 2017 21:50
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Krispy Wafer posted:homosexuals don't pay taxes
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Oct 9, 2017 21:50
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Yawgmoth posted:can we make this a thing we convince conservative crazies of next
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Oct 9, 2017 22:18
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Yawgmoth posted:can we make this a thing we convince conservative crazies of next You see, in order to avoid taxes, somebody must get hosed in the rear end. It can either be your lover, or the poor, senior citizens, and schoolchildren.
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Oct 9, 2017 22:30
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GF saddled with extensive vet bills after unsuccessful surgery for her cat. She has little to no income.quote:
I felt bad when I first saw the title, because putting a price on a beloved pet seems difficult beyond what most people can do rationally. It's a common issue, and it's the reason why I don't yet have a pet. I've received a lot of pressure to get a puppy but I've been very adamant that we won't get one until we have a full emergency fund for ourselves plus a separate one for our new pet so that we are never forced in to this lovely situation. Once I read the full post, however, hoooooooo boy. That kitty just drained 1-2 years of this lady's income on its way out. I still feel bad about their situation, but holy poo poo. How does it reach this point? Is their vet a total scumbag, or were they being foolish in the first place to be putting medical expenses on a personal credit card? Teeter fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Oct 9, 2017 |
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Oct 9, 2017 22:34
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Good thing I haven't owned a pet since becoming an adult. I don't know if I could talk myself in to spending several thousand dollars on an operation. I have more of the George Carlin approach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqW8riZ7lQg
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Oct 9, 2017 22:57
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A coworker of mine, who is good at her job and otherwise a good, rational, decent human being, is completely money-stupid. I mentioned long-term capital gains taxes and how ridiculously low they are and she looked at me like I grew horns. She doesn't think they should be taxed at all, something something she could have spent that money on a boat instead but chose to invest, etc. It didn't really make any sense. She had previously expressed that she didn't believe in taxes because she doesn't trust the government to spend her money as she should see fit, not understanding that 1) her idea of what's the best way to spend money may not (certainly isn't) the best way to spend money (not that the government gets it right, either) and 2) the fact that SHE would take any tax cuts she gets and donate it to charity (I doubt it, but I'll take her at her word) doesn't mean that everyone ELSE would do the same, and so tax cuts are sure to hurt people who need assistance (or the government's balance book). But really, here's the BWM part: she paid for her house in cash (okay, this is GWM) but up until then, she'd been saving her money in a checking account (BWM). Her retirement contributions are mostly in high-cost active funds (BWM) and but she's been too lazy to change them, for YEARS. She has most of her investments in bonds but she's only barely in her 40s. And the kicker, she hasn't maxed out her 401k but has money in a taxable account because, I don't know, she's money-stupid. I told her she was silly for doing it that way but she got all indignant, like "YOU may think it's silly of me to do this but" and then I don't know where she went with that. Not sure if she realizes that she's unnecessarily paying those long-term capital gains taxes she hates so much. It's so frustrating that an otherwise-smart person can be so loving stupid when it comes to money, whether its her own or not understanding the unfair situation that is rich people literally making more than her annual income in interest pay less in taxes than she does.
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Oct 9, 2017 22:59
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I have to wonder about the vet in that situation. Maybe they were up front abut costs/chances and she just couldn't say no until that point, but it's also tricky to be stopping that on someone where they don't actually have much time to process it. All those vet bills and she didn't even get to own a horse.
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Oct 9, 2017 23:01
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i'm trying to figure out what exactly was done for $20,000, my cat had emergency surgery on a sunday night ($$$ just because it was a weekend) and two overnight stays and it came out to $1800
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Oct 9, 2017 23:14
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It's one of those situations where I really wish we could have gotten a play-by-play of the event as it was happening, since most people are really bad at judging this sort of thing, especially when the life of a beloved companion is on the line. They could have read more optimism into the vet's outlook than was intended, or they might not have understood the full prognosis & how likely any given test was to actually help. Or the vet could have just done a lovely job in getting that stuff across. Or both!
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Oct 9, 2017 23:15
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BWM is on the vet expecting to get anything like 20k outta that person.
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Oct 9, 2017 23:18
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