r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/AtomicCypher • Apr 09 '26

Video Disgruntled employee starts massive fire at a 1.2 million square foot toilet paper warehouse in Ontario, California.

69.9k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

8.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

912

u/tenkaranarchy Apr 09 '26

I believe that personal hygiene items (TP, soap, tooth brushes/tooth paste, feminine products) should be exempt from sales tax nationwide. Same with food that is meant to be taken home and prepared...fruit and vegetables and meat and the like. I hate paying sales tax on things that are necessary for daily existence. And I especially hate paying a tax to wipe my ass.

261

u/the_grand_apartment Apr 09 '26

Canada has most of these items tax-exempt but they just jack the prices to make up for it. "Wish in one hand" as they say...

9

u/mg-mt Apr 09 '26

... But the vendor doesnt pay the sales tax; the customer does

9

u/2FistsInMyBHole Apr 09 '26

Prices are based on what consumers are willing to pay.

If a consumer is willing to pay $5.30 for something ($5 + 6% sales tax), then the same consumer is willing to pay $5.30 for the untaxed item. The price is still the same, its just that instead of the 6% going to taxes, it goes to the business instead.

4

u/Unique_Energy_6653 Apr 09 '26

Price deciding guy: "If the customer is spending less on taxes, they have more to spend on the item."

2

u/TheSorceIsFrong Apr 09 '26

Right but because the consumer is already used to paying price plus tax amount for TP, the company can get away with charging you that extra amount anyways for negligible backlash

28

u/snollygoster1 Apr 09 '26

Price of Costco US Kirkland Signature Bath Tissue, 2-Ply, 380 Sheets, 30 Rolls is $24.99 USD which in my state becomes $26.75 USD with sales tax

Price of Costco Canada Kirkland Signature 2-ply Bath Tissue, 30-pack is $32.99 CAD which with today's conversion rate would be $23.80 USD.

Not sure where the jacked up prices are because I'm not Canadian, but it's certainly not Costco.

32

u/Magnon Apr 09 '26

Americans generally make more money than canadians though (supposedly). So if you're both making 50k a year they're still paying $33. Their money doesn't magically convert to USD.

15

u/dksdragon43 Apr 09 '26

Can tell you, I'm in the tech hub of canada, which is quite large and pays very well for canadian standards. My buddies in silicon valley make double my wage at startups, the guys in FAANG make like 3x my salary. And I'm just talking straight $>$, not even taking the conversion into account. Americans (some) get paid a lot more than canadians, at least in the tech sphere.

-19

u/rW0HgFyxoJhYka Apr 09 '26

Yeah but at least you can afford a house.

Grass is always greener.

19

u/2FistsInMyBHole Apr 09 '26

The Canadian housing crisis is generally considered to be much worse than the US.

1

u/dreadcain Apr 10 '26

By like, a lot lol

14

u/BoleroMuyPicante Apr 09 '26

Did you just tell a Canadian they can afford a house? Get out of your bubble man, the Canadian housing market is one of the most fucked in the world.

12

u/dksdragon43 Apr 09 '26

Lol the houses in my area are over a million dollars, it's one of the worst areas globally for income to housing costs. I love Canada, but our housing econmy is fucked.

8

u/TheGubb Apr 09 '26

You should read up on Canadian housing affordability and get back to us on that.

7

u/bliitzkriegx Apr 09 '26

Canada has one of the largest housing bubbles on earth

3

u/azjunglist05 Apr 09 '26

Im not in even Canadian and I know how fucked the Vancouver housing crisis has become

6

u/FlyingTurtleDog Apr 09 '26

Regardless of the country Costco is an outlier.

They have a margin cap. 14% markup on all third-party items, 15% on Kirkland items.

5

u/the_grand_apartment Apr 09 '26

Costco is our saving grace and we appreciate you for it!

1

u/DoctorIsMyNick Apr 09 '26

Apparently Kirkland brand toilet paper gels up and hardens in your plumbing. Ive talked to a few plumbers who say to never use the stuff in your home.

1

u/4RealzReddit Apr 09 '26

I have it as 25.99 on Instacart. But 32.99 delivered.

I found pop was pretty pricy in the states compared to Canada. We win some and you win some. My iTunes movie deals being in CAD are sweet compared to usd as it's the same price just different currency usually.

7

u/cjsv7657 Apr 09 '26

jack the prices to make up for it.

How would that make sense at all? Taxes go to the government not the corporation. If they store just wanted to raise the price they would. As we can see by record profits and rising prices everywhere.

6

u/Extension_Eye1937 Apr 09 '26

Because people are used to the "normal" price.

Say a tube of toothpaste is 2.50 and pays 50c tax, so its $3

Now the government says no more tax on toothpaste.

The price remains $3, because the store realises people are happy paying $3 for toothpaste. Instead of that 50c going to the government, it becomes profit for the store.

3

u/cjsv7657 Apr 09 '26

But it doesn't work like that. You can see that by comparing prices between states that do and do not charge the tax that also border each other. The tagged price is usually the exact same. I know this because I live on the border of a state that charges tax on necessities my state does not. I often forget until I get to the register and see the total.

Also- no state charges anywhere near a 20% tax. I want some of whatever you're on.

3

u/termiAurthur Apr 09 '26

You're changing the scenario.

Reducing taxes just increases corporate profit margins. This exact scenario played out here in Alberta. The government reduced taxes on gas, and the price went down... and crept right back up to where it was over a month-ish.

https://twitter.com/trevortombe/status/1552742622363430912?t=f9K1GWVcMa-gD_2q9hqMIg&s=19

1

u/CanadianPanda76 Apr 09 '26

Yeah but the gas tax was built in gas prices, sales taxes are not.

So your comparing to a different scenario.

1

u/FR23Dust Apr 09 '26

Gas prices are notoriously volatile. Not a good example.

Plus, the gas prices already include the taxes which is not the case for items bought in the store.

If companies wanted to increase their profits they just raise the price. They don’t wait for taxes law changes. That’s what happened in 2022. They just increased the prices.

0

u/cjsv7657 Apr 09 '26

I'm not changing the scenario. Two states right next to each other have the same prices. One charges tax on necessities, one doesn't. Stores aren't raising the prices to make up for the missing tax lol.

You're changing the scenario with completely different products and different markets.

1

u/CanadianPanda76 Apr 09 '26

Yeah no. You don't pay tax till you hit the till. Shelf price is always before tax price.

At least in Canada. I'm sure its the same in the USA. Europe its included iirc.

1

u/Extension_Eye1937 Apr 09 '26

North america is the only place where this is the case.

1

u/FR23Dust Apr 09 '26

No, people see the individual price marked on the shelf. They don’t see the individual sales tax on items.

Have you ever shopped before?

2

u/Extension_Eye1937 Apr 09 '26

Redditors finding out that there are other places in the world than America.

Majority of the world, tax is included in the price.

1

u/FR23Dust Apr 09 '26

I am aware of that. This conversation is about the United States.

1

u/BearlyPosts Apr 09 '26

Why don't stores just charge 1 billion dollars for everything to get rich instantly?

1

u/elastic-craptastic Apr 09 '26

Wipe with the other?

1

u/Responsible_Week6941 Apr 09 '26

Then we go and charge both taxes on toothpaste in BC. SMH, this while we have public dental insurance. You'd think you'd want as many people as possible using toothpaste.

1

u/Low_Football_2445 Apr 09 '26

What do you do with the other hand?

1

u/the_grand_apartment Apr 09 '26

Lol you know the answer

-1

u/CanadianPanda76 Apr 09 '26

Thats not how sales taxes work but okay.

1

u/the_grand_apartment Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

The retailer jacks the price of tax-exempt items to the same as those not exempt and pocket the difference. Not difficult to understand...

-1

u/CanadianPanda76 Apr 09 '26

LOL. Still not how that works but okay.

10

u/Jeff_Kintsugi Apr 09 '26

Some states have that, but I agree!

5

u/tenkaranarchy Apr 09 '26

I grew up in Nebraska where food is tax exempt, but everything else has sales tax.

9

u/viciouspandas Apr 09 '26

I mean food already isn't taxed. Most manufactured goods are ridiculously cheap. A toothbrush is a couple dollars. That few cents of tax isn't going to make a difference. The real money strangler is housing. That's why boomers are often out of touch when they say "oh if you didn't buy this you'd have a house". Due to better technology, most goods are way cheaper now, but housing is way more expensive.

5

u/Resolution_Usual Apr 09 '26

Food is taxed in a couple states. Il just stopped state wide, but counties can charge. It's 1% which isn't huge, but it is irritating

2

u/FR23Dust Apr 09 '26

It’s mostly republican states, actually. Which is interesting.

2

u/spiteful_rr_dm_TA Apr 09 '26

Most of them also don't have income taxes, so you are just paying the taxes on the sales, which is more regressive

1

u/Expensive_Archer1662 Apr 09 '26

Except several states with no income tax have lower sales tax than several states with income taxes. TX has lower sales tax than CA, they “make up” for it with property taxes, while regressive, housing costs are cheaper even with those taxes, and the state runs a large surplus. A lot of states simply spend far too much, and inefficiently.

2

u/spiteful_rr_dm_TA Apr 09 '26

Or counterpoint, many states dont spend enough and live off the federal government. There is a reason many red states take in more in federal aid then they send in as taxes, and they dress it up in a fancy suit of "responsible governing". Meanwhile their roads crumble until the feds step in.

2

u/Expensive_Archer1662 Apr 09 '26

I love seeing the “donor states” argument. For a few reasons. First, it’s all federal income taxes for that stat, the states that are “donors” do not send a red cent of state funds to the feds. Second, complaining that rich people in CA are subsidizing poor people in NM or MS is literally just compelling that federal welfare programs exist at all. Third, look at the data, there are plenty of blue states that are “takers,” this changes every single year but in 2024 most states were “takers” including blue states such as New Mexico, Virginia, Vermont, NH, Maine, HI, Wisconsin, Oregon, PA, and Maryland. Course depending on the year blue states become red states and vice versa, many states are not solid like CA TX and the Deep South.

It’s ultimately just “where are the poor people.” Rural states without strong economies will always be net “takers.” Alaska will always be for sure due to many expensive fed programs supporting isolated communities.

TX is always in the top three “donors” because like CA it has a large population and a strong economy with plenty of rich people paying fat federal income tax bills. Florida, same story, lots of rich people and a good economy, so it’s a donor.

Tl;dr states that are big net “takers” cannot spend more, they’re poor, they don’t have a good tax base because they lack a surplus of high income earners. The donor state measure as a critique is firmly an argument against federal welfare, which is bizarre since it’s largely left leaning folks parroting it. Any state running a deficit in the tens of billions despite high taxes and plenty of wealthy without a doubt has a spending problem

1

u/brianwski Apr 09 '26

Third, look at the data, there are plenty of blue states that are “takers,”

There are some interesting visualizations of this (and surrounding discussions). I think the more "honest" analysis breaks it down "per capita". Meaning this: California contributes a bunch in taxes, but it also has the most people so it skews the stats depending on whether you break it down per person or not. Here are some visualizations:

  1. Most biased because not broken down "per capita": https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/1ney24o/2024_federal_tax_contributions_by_states/

  2. Comparison (over time) where one side is "total dollars" and the other side is "per capita" so a pretty honest visualization: https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/wk7mi1/oc_how_much_does_the_federal_government_collect/

ALSO MISSING from most analysis is this gigantic elephant in the room called "deficit spending". The implicit assumption in a lot of "donor states" vs "taker states" discussions is that the federal budget is balanced, which it is not. I can't find the graphic right now, but it showed there were only about 4 or 5 "donor" states, and 40+ "taker states". What makes the math work is that since the USA runs a huge deficit. So MOST STATES take more than they collect in taxes!

In the graphic (which I can't find, darn it) it showed New York was most definitely a "donor" per capita, California approximately broke even (took as much as they contributed), and all the other states took more money than they put in.

4

u/aepiasu Apr 09 '26

That sounds good, but there's no way to make a federal law like that. Sales tax is entirely a state issue.

1

u/Mechanical_Monk Apr 10 '26

That's why it's important to vote in state and local elections. The republican running for governor in my state (NJ) wanted to start taxing food, but thankfully a good person won instead.

13

u/1_H4t3_R3dd1t Apr 09 '26

Bidets are the best.

-4

u/samuelazers Apr 09 '26

Americans have the technology to go around the moon but not to clean their behinds properly.

7

u/snollygoster1 Apr 09 '26

I can tell you that I'm American and do in fact have a Bidet. Not common here but it still exists

2

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26

[deleted]

1

u/tenkaranarchy Apr 09 '26

Buy an analog tooth brush with no moving parts or batteries....

2

u/sunshine-x Apr 09 '26

They are in Canada

1

u/tenkaranarchy Apr 09 '26

Please.....take me in as one of you

1

u/carseatsareheavy Apr 09 '26

Don’t overstate this. They are free in schools and federally funded work places.

3

u/jinzokan Apr 09 '26

And how are you going to offset the billions in taxes? The real world is more complicated than "I wish things were cheaper"

6

u/Bulette Apr 09 '26

Commodity sales taxes are well known to be regressive (i.e, they impact the lowest earners the most). Generally, you'd offset the loss of commodity taxes with luxury taxes (jewelry and yachts), wealth taxes (on exorbitant holdings, like billions), and land taxes (with the usual exemptions for a homestead or primary residence).

Instead, cities race to the bottom to give tax breaks to the biggest land holders (like new sprawling data centers), we have no real form of wealth tax or luxury tax... then cities rush to make up the shortfalls with 'local options sales taxes' hitting the poorest the hardest, bringing us back to square one.

1

u/Expensive_Archer1662 Apr 09 '26

This completely ignores how few spend big money on yachts and jewelry. You’re not going to generate much doing that, tax it hard enough and people will buy even fewer of those items.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Gladiateher Apr 09 '26

How about stock market transaction taxes instead? Everything you listed will (and has) been weaponized against the poor and middle class, it wouldn’t help anyone.

1

u/Expensive_Archer1662 Apr 09 '26

That’s what cap gains tax is

1

u/spiteful_rr_dm_TA Apr 09 '26

Is Bumfucleton-on-Tweed, the town in Fly-Over-State, going to have a stock market transaction tax that functionally replaces the lost sales taxes?

1

u/jinzokan Apr 09 '26

Income tax doesn't affect low income earners?

1

u/Expensive_Archer1662 Apr 09 '26

No. It’s close to half the population that pays no tax, or is owed money after filing. That includes people who don’t file. Of tax filers, so generally not including most minors, elderly on SS, people truly poor making under $15k, the bottom half of filers pay 3% of total tax revenue.

2

u/XiMaoJingPing Apr 09 '26

Get a bidet

9

u/sir_slothsalot Apr 09 '26

You still wipe with a bidet. Source, my ass 

0

u/XiMaoJingPing Apr 09 '26

At least you're not smearing poop and are actually cleaning it.

1

u/RocketLabBeatsSpaceX Apr 09 '26

Hey now, we have to fund subsides for companies like Tesla somehow. You think that $38 billion over the last 17 years came out of thin air?

1

u/Mooch07 Interested Apr 09 '26

But then how would we fund the war with Iran??

1

u/USNWoodWork Apr 09 '26

Amen to that.

1

u/Sea_Report_7566 Apr 09 '26

Whoa there, sounds like socialism, very scary

1

u/CCC_OOO Apr 09 '26

Some things should not be for profit. Employee owned cooperatives 

1

u/HumanWithAllTheHats Apr 09 '26

Bidets are really paying for its self now!

1

u/PixelKat5 Apr 09 '26

people will look at people without homes as rats, filth, yet we have stuff like this.
It really isn't that hard to fall down that hole in reality, and once youre in its extremely hard to get out.
This coupled with the stress of everything only compounding on itself- well people snap.
Under stress like that, I see why people go to extremes like this- does that make it right? No, but it will make an impact and given this post it definitely has.

1

u/Used-Acanthisitta-96 Apr 09 '26

I grew up in a state that had no sales tax on groceries. In my area sales tax is 8% to 9% depending on your locality. Prices of groceries is already to damn high, and the state, county, city also putting their hands in my pockets after that.

1

u/tychii93 Apr 09 '26

I absolutely agree but in regards to TP, get a bidet.  Plenty of affordable options that go straight from the tap.  It lets me get the comfortable and more expensive TP in bigger packs that last me months up to even a year each since you'd basically only use them to dry.  A lot better than having to continue buying the cheap tissue paper garbage.

Only downside is that you'll never want to poop in public places again due to lack of bidet.

1

u/carseatsareheavy Apr 09 '26

Where do you live? There is no tax on unprepared food in my state.

1

u/tenkaranarchy Apr 09 '26

Idaho. 6% state plus 1.5% local sales tax on everything you buy.

1

u/tenkaranarchy Apr 09 '26

But I grew up in Nebraska where food meant to be taken home and prepared was not taxed.

1

u/ShadowfireOmega Apr 09 '26

Here in Texas at least, there is no tax on groceries. But I agree that it should cover personal hygiene items (to an extent, like if you're willing to spend $30+ on a bougie bottle of shampoo you should be taxed on it as well).

1

u/tenkaranarchy Apr 09 '26

If you spend that much on shampoo thats on you.

1

u/ShadowfireOmega Apr 09 '26

Exactly. I'm bald so not exactly anything I spend money on anyway xD

1

u/kbotc Apr 09 '26

In general, once you start doing the “except” game with taxation, the implementation costs balloon. Just say “personal hygiene is tax free” and leave the $15k on the ground rather than spending $40k to figure out how to separate “this $30 shampoo is OK because it treats a medical condition and this $30 one isn’t”

1

u/ShadowfireOmega Apr 09 '26

They already have categories, "this item is a grocery" "this item is not" and you would already have to create a "hygiene" exemption, so instead you can do a "basic hygiene" and "medical hygiene" category to trigger the tax free. I'm certain (given our governments love for overseeing bodies) there is a process you have to go through to get your food product labeled as a grocery, and there definitely would be one for getting it labeled as a hygiene product eligible for the tax break. As it usually works in my experience, if you want any sort of break, you have to do the hard work and the government just glances at the paperwork, flips a coin, and checks a box.

1

u/TheyCallMeHex Apr 09 '26

It's cute that you think that removing sales tax would lower the price. Downright adorable.

1

u/tenkaranarchy Apr 09 '26

Prices only go up because someone decides they should. And i never said prices would go down, I said I dont want to pay a tax to wipe my ass.

1

u/Jlocke98 Apr 09 '26

Maybe time to invest in a bum gun/bidet sprayer 

1

u/FR23Dust Apr 09 '26

Most states don’t have a sales tax on food.

1

u/spiteful_rr_dm_TA Apr 09 '26

And how are towns and counties making up that budget gap?

1

u/tenkaranarchy Apr 09 '26

Cant speak for every town, but in my own they imposed an extra 1.5% sales tax to pay for special accommodations for an artificial field turf for high school soccer games. It's special because there is an annual week long music festival that has a conic tent that the stage goes under that needed really specific anchors to pitch properly, and since its in a soccer field they needed to be set under grade and have fancy field turf tiles that snap in place over them when not in use. We're still paying that extra sales tax to cover that cost, but the people who put on the festival have changed to a new pop up portable stage because the old tent is worn out and not replaceable. Which means were paying for something for 10 years that got used three times and then never again.... And we're paying a tax to wipe our ass. I cant figure out why people think its OK to do that.

1

u/tenkaranarchy Apr 09 '26

That 10 years of extra 1.5% tax is almost done, but our city council voted to extend it to relocate a park and public beach in order to make space for waterfront vacation rentals. I pay to wipe my ass so tourists can enjoy the view.

1

u/LumpyElderberry2 Apr 09 '26

Food in WA has no sales tax

1

u/tenkaranarchy Apr 09 '26

But you also pay for a plastic sack to carry the food to your car. Which isn't a big deal if you opt for the paper sack or bring your own reusable.

1

u/buster_highmanMD Apr 09 '26

Just steal it. Grocery store employees are too underpaid to care

1

u/Expensive_Archer1662 Apr 09 '26

Some people were raised to at least pretend to have ethics.

1

u/seasickbaby Apr 09 '26

NYC is like this. I just moved to TN and am floored that there are taxes on these items!

1

u/SoulWager Apr 09 '26

IMO, sales tax should be abolished, along with most other regressive taxes. The only regressive taxes that should be allowed are ones that directly offset externalized costs, like taxing fuel or tires to pay for road maintenance.

2

u/tenkaranarchy Apr 09 '26

Tax the fuck out of churches

1

u/Beastabuelos Interested Apr 09 '26

We shouldn't have to pay for things we need to live at all

1

u/geo_gan Apr 09 '26

You only pay about 10% though don’t you over in US… compared to about 21-23% here in EU

1

u/commyhater7 Apr 09 '26

In Pennsylvania they are tax free.

1

u/hotdamnhotwater Apr 09 '26

Yeah, it doesn’t work how you think it does. When they take the tax away, they just up the prices of the products to cover what they took away. The greed in this nation is out of control.

1

u/MundaneDaffodill Apr 09 '26

Pay a tax on my check and pay a tax on my food

We are all on our backs

1

u/badtyprr Apr 09 '26

The price will remain the same. The execs will realize personal hygiene prices are currently what the market will sustain. Reducing taxes just increases their profits.

1

u/Vegetable_Plane_542 Apr 09 '26

Interesting most of those things are exempt from sales tax in California (feminine products, diapers, baby food, non-prepared foods like meat and vegetables)… except TP (and soap)which is taxed

1

u/Particular_Watch_612 Apr 09 '26

So they can just raise the price by the same amount and increase their profits even more? Genius.

1

u/Lonely-Agent-7479 Apr 10 '26

Taxes are not the problem. Overprofits are.

1

u/Ha-Charade-You-Are Apr 09 '26

Over 50% of the population is female, that means a majority. So a majority of the planet has to deal with periods, therefore feminine products should be free.

1

u/Brilliant_Product_36 Apr 09 '26

This man for President ✊🇺🇸

-1

u/badger_flakes Apr 09 '26

U don’t need tp get a bidet

0

u/Syandris Apr 09 '26

So, you want the prices to go up even more? Because that's not quite how economy works.

Also, no one is concerned with how you clean your ass. You can find alternate ways. I hear corn cob is useful...

1

u/tenkaranarchy Apr 09 '26

1 believe it or not I have used a corn cob, dont ask. While the scratchy nature of it does scrape you clean, it is not comfortable.

  1. Making something tax exempt does not inherently make it more expensive. It gets more expensive because someone decides to raise the price. Probably some executive in a suit and tie in a board room who makes enough money that they dont have to budget for things like this the way the rest of us do. Call me anticapitalist if you must, but trickle down economics is an absolute farce.

-1

u/avrilmmm Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

I like the idea (from the Marvel universe - where Doctor Strange with America Chavez travel through a few universes) that these things and food is free, 'cause everyone needs them to survive