Ignorant bullies trying to hassle and shake down the little guys, holding 'em up by their ankles to see if a few coins fall out of their pockets. Nothing better to do with their time as employees paid by the public?

 

I'm confused why the municipality would regulate/enforce that to begin with. I get a letter every January from the state dept. of revenue asking for their state sales tax. They are the only folks concerned. Further, it's suspicious how they would know what the total sales were as well. If the business was one that required sales tax, the municipality needs to wait until Federal and State income taxes are completed before sticking their fingers in the cookie jar. Technically, all sources of income is expected to be reported. As far as I know, farmers market items would be no exception.

 

It varies by state, Blueblood, but in NC, like Alabama, farm produced goods sold direct from the farm with no middleman, are exempt from sales tax.

 

Here's a good link if you live in TN. Basically, if you sell less than 150 gallons/year, there's not too much you have to do as far as taxes and licenses and stuff.

http://cheathambees.blogspot.com/2012/07/selling-your-honey-and-bee-products-tn.html

 

a blueblood snip...
I'm confused why the municipality would regulate/enforce that to begin with.

tecumseh...
well I would guess blueblood that you do understand the basic operating principle behind a speed trap? 1) you are imposing a tax on someone that does not live there and 2) you are working under the assumption that most of the folks getting the ticket are so far off that they will not protest the fine 3) given #1 and #2 it doesn't matter how unreasonable this tax is the folks getting the ticket really have no recourse and will not vote the highway men from office come the next election.

How many here reckon the 'city official' didn't know about the exception to the law?

 

Food is exempt from sales tax here. Except prepared food such as in a restaurant. SInce some food in a grocery store is prepared such as the roasted chicken from the deli it can get interesting what some places try to tax you on. Honey is not considered prepared any more than sugar or syrup would be.

 

a blueblood snip...
I'm confused why the municipality would regulate/enforce that to begin with.

tecumseh...
well I would guess blueblood that you do understand the basic operating principle behind a speed trap? 1) you are imposing a tax on someone that does not live there and 2) you are working under the assumption that most of the folks getting the ticket are so far off that they will not protest the fine 3) given #1 and #2 it doesn't matter how unreasonable this tax is the folks getting the ticket really have no recourse and will not vote the highway men from office come the next election.

How many here reckon the 'city official' didn't know about the exception to the law?

I don't know what the city official was thinking. I suspect there is more to the story.

Indiana doesn't tax infractions of the law. There are a handful of states that do though surprisingly. That would really bite. I am a fair officer and don't issue tickets very often unless attitude warrants it. But, if you break the law in front of me, you may get a ticket (not tax), regardless of what state you live in. The term speed trap is generalized as most things in my field because people are angry about breaking the laws/being in the wrong and they want to blame somebody else.

 

Certain Texas cities run "courts of revenue". Property taxes are very low. Sales taxes not excessive, they make their money writing tickets and the fine for the same infraction is 4x as high as a neighboring city's fine for the same thing.

 

Wow, I did not know other states did that until Tec brought it up. That is insane!

 

That is Texas. No income tax.

 

Thank goodness we don't have income tax in TN either (although we do have a high sales tax).

 

I don't know what the city official was thinking. I suspect there is more to the story.
.

There is a little more to it that I didn't share. The official told the club member selling the honey he would have to purchase a business license to sell his honey inside the city limits. The club member's home is inside the city limits and he went down town to purchase the license. When he found out it was going to cost him $200, he asked to see the mayor. The mayor told him he didn't need a business license to sell farm produced food items and so he didn't buy one.

When the official came by his home later and saw the honey for sale, he asked to see his business license. The club member told him what the mayor said and that's when he was fined for not collecting the city sales tax. I think it was a "well, I'll show you" kind of reaction from the official.

 

blueblood writes..
I don't know what the city official was thinking.

tecumseh...
well quite plainly they are primarily thinking of enhancing their own revenue stream and the locals want certain services but are unwilling to pay for these themselves. hopefully in my last response you did not get the idea that I was blaming your or even the majority of police officers of this kind of unethical behavior.... I have really had way too many friends that were police officers to ever think in that fashion myself. we have several small towns about that have the reputation as speed traps and of course the local folks pretty much know the places where the speed limit suddenly drops from 65 to 30, although in most of the known speed traps here it really doesn't matter if you are speeding or not and almost anyone can discern your location from your automobile tag.

 

Thanks Tec, It's all good...I get so upset with the few ding dong officer that make the majority of us look bad. We get upset with our own that sit in those locations where the speed drops...equally so with those that sit on bars for dui's, argggg!

Wayne, I figured it was something like that. There is always "that guy" who feels it is necessary to take it upon himself to be the supreme representative of his organization and police everyone else. In most cases, outside of his/her job description. The official doesn't get anymore money/salary/bonus/stipend from collecting fees from citizens. Just like I don't see one cent from writing a $150 ticket. It's things like this that make the Amish style of living sound very appealing,,,:grin: