White House declares Amazon's Jeff Bezos' China tariffs 'a hostile act'

[Lemon Drop]

Bill in NC wrote:
should be required by law.

as a consumer I have every right to know the taxes on the goods I'm considering purchasing.

radical transparency!!

I agree Bill!

[jdc]

folded like a $3 bill, sad.

[hal]

If Bezos is current on USA soil, he's out of his mind.

[Lizabeth]

Wish he would do it but I am trying to limit what I buy on Amazon these days. Local if possible or direct from the manufacturer.

[Acer]

Upon further review, I expect very, very few businesses even want to itemize the tariff charges this way. They want you to assume all increases are tariffs.

The rest of this story is left as an exercise for the reader.

[hal]

Acer wrote:
Upon further review, I expect very, very few businesses even want to itemize the tariff charges this way. They want you to assume all increases are tariffs.

The rest of this story is left as an exercise for the reader.

Tariffs are not like price increases - tariffs are an added expense after the purchase. If I buy something for $100, I expect to pay $100. The last thing I'm expecting is another bill for $145 on top of the $100 I just paid. Best to be warned about that before the transaction.

[special]

hal wrote:
[quote=Acer]
Upon further review, I expect very, very few businesses even want to itemize the tariff charges this way. They want you to assume all increases are tariffs.

The rest of this story is left as an exercise for the reader.

Tariffs are not like price increases - tariffs are an added expense after the purchase. If I buy something for $100, I expect to pay $100. The last thing I'm expecting is another bill for $145 on top of the $100 I just paid. Best to be warned about that before the transaction.

That is how it is in Europe. the price you see includes the VAT (their sales tax).

First time I went shopping here in the US (30+ years ago) and the cashier asked for more than the price tag I was confused.

I would have no problem if the Amazon page said

Item Price: $100
Tariff: $145
Sale Price: $245

Sale Tax: $15

Total Due: $260

[JoeH]

Actually as far as you and every other consumer are concerned, tariffs are an added expense before the purchase. It is a tax on the goods just to get them into the country. You don't pay them directly. But you can be sure that every seller is going to pass on all or most of that expense.

I would have been pleased to see Amazon and other retailers put the information out plainly. Something like Original Cost, Tariff added, and Cost to Buy. Then everyone would get to see directly the tax they are paying in the form of a tariff on each purchase.

[pdq]

JoeH wrote:
Actually as far as you and every other consumer are concerned, tariffs are an added expense before the purchase. It is a tax on the goods just to get them into the country. You don't pay them directly. But you can be sure that every seller is going to pass on all or most of that expense.

I would have been pleased to see Amazon and other retailers put the information out plainly. Something like Original Cost, Tariff added, and Cost to Buy. Then everyone would get to see directly the tax they are paying in the form of a tariff on each purchase.

…which is why the White House freaked out, and Trump called Bezos on the carpet, who promptly bent over backward to the extent of trying to make the whole thing “fake news”.

[$tevie]

I don't think this was ever a real plan. There's absolutely nothing to back up what I am going to call a rumor. Bezos isn't stupid enough to piss off someone he spent millions of dollars sucking up to.