In article ,
"carrigman" wrote:
> A brilliant city and a great place to visit but....
>
> 1. Why can't the marked prices on things include the NYC sales tax? It's
> annoying when you see something for sale for, say, 9.99 only to find you
> have to pay an additional 8% or whatever extra. In Europe the marked price is inclusive of all taxes. NYC should
> catch up.
How is this any different that other cities where a sales tax is charged
The trouble with the way the VAT is charged in Europe is that its cost to
consumers is hidden. When the sales tax is kept separate, people can see
at a glance how much in taxes we pay. Besides, for those of us who are
not mathematically illiterate, figuring out the total price of an item
after tax is added on is not difficult.
> 2. How come there are so few internet cafes? I eventually happened on one,
> by sheer chance, in West 33rd Street. In European cities they are plentiful. One would have
> thought that with the amount of visitors to NYC there would be a ready market for many more of
> them in the city.
In the states, more and more public libraries offer free Internet access.
NYC is one such community. Further, more and more hotels are offering
inexpensive broadband Internet access. Further, many Americans have good
ISP service at home, so there really is very little market for such
things in the states, but you can find lots of wi-fi spots if you have a
laptop or hand held Internet device. McDonalds, Star Bucks, Kinko's, etc.
all offer wi-fi for a modest fee or free to customers.
> 3. What's with all the honking? If traffic is held up for an instant there
> is a cacophany of car horns being sounded. Again, not something one hears
> in most European cities.
I have to agree with you about the loud horn honking in NYC. I have no
idea why people are so quick to hong their horns there. That being said,
NYC is a veritable morgue compared to the street noise I heard in most
Italian cities when I was there a few years ago. |