Please Display Prices with Tax

Here’s a retail annoyance for a newcomer like me. Nobody displays retail prices WITH taxes!

Now I never claimed to be a master arithmetician. In fact I am a horrible, horrible calculator. But I am sure there must be at least few other people out there like me. Think you’re a master, eh? What’s 15% of 3.48 dollars, quick, and don’t fumble with your change because it’s a long line behind you!

Which is why I am seriously beginning to wonder what exactly is the point for not listing prices with the GST+PST (15%) tax that is added to everything at the end?

I mean it is not as if some people pay, while others don’t. It’s a mandatory tax, right? And it is applicable on everything. So why don’t the retailers display the prices WITH the tax added and save us poor newbie souls nasty surprises, or Percentage-101 before getting to the check out counter?

Time for a PDPT – Please Display Prices with Tax – Campaign! Anyone?

UPDATE:

A great suggestion from kind reader Jennifer makes me rephrase the title of this campaign to Please Display Prices AND Tax. She proposes a price tag that indicates the original price, the tax and the resulting payable price, such as, “$49.99 + $7.00 (tax) = $56.99”.