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Comment by breadwinner | Hacker News Reader

> Some sectors have been doing this for years - "service fees" at restaurants...

If the additional fees is government-forced, such as taxes, then it makes sense to display it separately. You are throwing government-forced costs and regular business costs in the same bucket. If tariffs should be included in the listed price then why not taxes?

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I think they want the price to be the amount they will have to pay to get the item or service. On the bill you can then split up the price into taxes, tariffs and whatever else you want so they are not thrown into the same bucket.

That way there's no surprise at the checkout and you still see how much of the money goes to whom.

It works very well in the rest of the world

The reason that works in the rest of the world is, taxes are the same throughout the country. For example in the UK, the standard VAT rate (20%) applies uniformly to most goods, throughout the UK. So the price can be printed on the label. In the US some states have no sales tax at all, for example Oregon.

These generally aren't taxes. These are conservative business owners complaining about having to pay a living wage rather than a poverty wage.

When the rent goes up, the prices change. When insurance goes up, prices change. When labor costs go up it's a "service charge"? That's garbage, just set your prices accordingly.

Tariffs are not labor costs.

This thread is about "service fees" at restaraunts.

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