The state of New York has just started enforcing an, up until now, hidden ”bagel clause” in the state tax code. This clause calls for an approximately 8¢ per bagel tax if the bagel has been sliced or prepared before consumption or if it is consumed inside a store. A whole bagel carried out of the store has no tax.
The tax has been unenforced until recently when an audit found that New York chain Bruegger’s Bagel was in violation of the tax. The state demanded that the owner pay a huge back tax, according to the Wall Street Journal. Owner Kenneth Greene posted a sign near the cash register explaining the extra charge for the bagels when customers thought he was gouging them on the charges.
New Yorkers are going insane at the bagel tax and we in Illinois have to hope that Governor Quinn does not hear about it! Or maybe it’s good if Quinn tries to enact the tax because then for sure all the votes in the November gubernatorial election will go to Jewish Independent candidate Scott Lee Cohen.
First the controversy about a Mosque being built close to ground zero and now an Anti-Semitic bagel tax. I guess they will all be speaking Arabic soon in Manhattan.
The tax is confusing because the exact rules aren’t spelled out in the tax code. According to tax officials, a sliced loaf of bread in a bakery is not taxed, but a sliced bagel is. A spokesman for the Department of Taxation and Finance told the Wall Street Journal that the state "will provide additional guidance via our Web site and publications in the near future." If the taxman can’t give a straight answer about their own tax code, then how can a bagel store understand it?
New York State has a $9.2 billion deficit and just passed one of their largest budgets ever last month. The bagel tax has been around but has never been enforced until now as the legislator’s in the state capital of Albany look to squeeze New Yorkers out of every penny they have. New Yorkers who love their bagels are screaming!
One of those screaming in her thick NY accent is advertising icon Wendy Kaufman, best known for her stints as formerly “The Snapple Lady” and contestant on VH1!’s Celebrity Fit Club. Her rant? “They don't have enough to worry about other than bagels? I would like to put a tax on all government officials who are immoral, unethical hypocrites. Forget the bagels!!! New York could raise millions with that kind of tax!”
Celebrity photographer and founder of the web site www.timessquaregossip.com, James Edstrom, has one simple statement about the controversy, “Eat my bagel!” But will he pay the tax on it? He will have to if he wants his bagel sliced.
That means I will have to pay more because I can't put my schmear on the outside of a bagel. Damn and Damn good writing Posner!
ReplyDeleteIs there a tax if you buy the bagel whole with cream cheese to go then you go outside, slice the bagel, apply the cream cheese yourself then go back inside the store? Because technically if you have it pre-made, there's supposed to be a tax; if you eat it inside the store, it's also supposed to be taxed. Or is that just a stupid question?
ReplyDeleteGuess this gives me a good reason to carry my knife around.
John writes:
ReplyDelete"Your informative blog on the NY tax on bagels, but not other breads, posits a neo-modern version of the Bard's query: "Would a bagel, by any other name, taste as sweet?"
More to say:
ReplyDeleteAlert the ERs. Bagel related injuries will probably be on the rise.
According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2008 there were 1,979 people treated in ERs for BRIs (bagel-related injuries) and are the fifth most common danger in the American kitchen (chicken, potato, apple and onion injuries led the pack.) This doesn't take into account people like me, who, when a little blood gushes, continues slicing away, ignoring the growing red pool mixing with the now unusually pink cream cheese.
Wait a second! This is all a conspiracy! Not only will the state benefit from the collected tax, but so will the medical and insurance industries! Think of all the insurance claims that will be filed! Think of all money to be made from the surgeries, follow-up visits, bandages and gauzes, tetanus shots and stitches!
Even better, there will be hundreds of bagel-related injury litigations. More money for all those lawyers!
All this to save a few cents.
Or you could just be lazy and buy one of those bagel guillotines.