Cabela's and Obamacare tax

[James K]

Maybe this has been posted elsewhere, but I haven't seen it, so I will post it here.

Here is a case where an error, plus misinformation, plus dislike of our adorable president add up to silliness.

Yes, an excise tax has been put on some medical devices to help fund Obamacare, but Cabela's doesn't sell any of them. Cabela’s screwed up the settings on their off-the-shelf software and erroneously identified the normal and long standing excise tax on hunting and fishing equipment as the medical equipment excise tax. (An excise tax is a tax imposed on certain goods that is collected from the manufacturer or importer*; it is normally passed on to the customer as part of the price of the product, though AFAIK there is no law prohibiting showing it on the customer’s receipt. The problem may be that if it is already included in the price of the product, the customer is being charged twice for the same tax.)

Here is the scoop from Snopes:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/medicaldevice.asp

*The nonsense about taxing the big corporations is just another lie. Corporations don’t pay any taxes, not one cent. Ever. Period. They pass the tax on to us.

Jim

 

[steveno]

https://cabelas.custhelp.com/app/an...sion/L3RpbWUvMTM5MDEyNTA1OC9zaWQvTXZFMXhMS2w=

 

[shortwave]

Medical Device Excise Tax

Does Cabela's charge a Medical Excise Tax?



No, the medical device excise tax is a 2.3% tax applied to the sale of certain medical devices. Cabela's does sell some items which fall under the title of medical devices, but the excise tax is paid by the manufacturer or importer of the product, not customers.

Taken directly from Cabela's website that steveno posted above.

 

[buckhorn_cortez]

but the excise tax is paid by the manufacturer or importer of the product, not customers.

While it is true that the tax is paid by the manufacturer or importer, the cost is passed on to the customer - who bears the ultimate burden of the tax.

Ultimately, the consumer always pays the overhead - not the corporation.

This is like food stamps are "free from the government."

 

[sfwusc]

Of course they pass it on to customers. They pass on input and labor increases as well. I wish the whole country understood this, but business/economic classes for the masses in general education don't do a good job of teaching them something that sticks.