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Want Your Bagel Sliced? It'll Cost Ya
By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 24, 2010
Modified Aug 24, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 24, 2010
Modified Aug 24, 2010
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How much for that bagel in the window? Well, that depends on how you're taking it. Apparently State tax officials have started enforcing an odd sales tax law; according to the Wall Street Journal, while the sale of a whole bagels aren't subject to sales tax, sliced bagels are!
The State Department of Taxation and Finance further declares that a "sliced or prepared bagel (with cream cheese or other toppings)" is subject to sales tax, and any bagel (even unsliced) eaten in a store is subject to that same tax. But what if you buy one from a street cart, sliced but without toppings? And what about bialys or the coveted Canadian bagel?! (Oddly, the law doesn't apply to sliced bread.)
Bruegger's Bagel franchise, which has 33 New York storefronts, found out about the tax when they were audited, and the owner was told he was out of compliance with the policy. He was forced to pay a "significant" sum in taxes, a number the state estimated he owed. The shop now has signs explaining the 8-cent price hike, which points out the law to customers who thought they were being charged extra for the time it took to slice the bagel!
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bagel
bagel tax
bagels
sliced bagels
tax
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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