Cabella's Charging Medical Excise Tax on Purchases

[powerboatr]

omg my laser optical mouse is now taxed
wow we really were taken for a ride with the health care law.

where did you get the list, the FDA site is almost as big of a quagmire as the IRS site
thanks

it did say medical devices for HUMANS, but like the others mentioned the "as deemed by the secretary" pretty much means anything they want to add

[dave_in_austin]

Did you buy any first aid supplies/kits?

I bought some smokeless powder, some plastic boxes to hold cartridges, and a pocket knife. I can see (with a lot of imagination) how the knife might be a medical device, but the other stuff is clearly not medical. The medical excise tax was charged at 2.9% on the entire purchase.

[AEA]

2.9% on the sales tax as well? Tax on Tax?

That is the way Canada does their GST. GST is calculated after local sales tax, which the GST taxes.

[GeekwithaGun]

where did you get the list, the FDA site is almost as big of a quagmire as the IRS site
thanks

Here

[grumble]

FYI this is a huge screw-up by Cabela's. You are entitled to a refund of your 'Medical Device Excise Tax' that you paid.

An excise tax is paid to the government by the manufacturer/importer and is NOT charged to the consumer (it may well be passed through, but as a consumer you should never see it). It is not "collected" from the consumer and paid to the government the way that sales taxes are.

Cabela's messed up on this one. There are stories all over the net about this.

A call to corporate with your receipt number or a trip back to the store should net you a simple/fast refund.

[RX8er]

If I read the law correct, this should not be charged. The guidelines are fairly specific in that the new tax applies to medical professionals.... Also, I came across:

“Devices that are not covered by this safe harbor will be subject to a facts-and-circumstances test to determine if they meet the retail exception. The device must generally satisfy two requirements:

The device is regularly available for purchase and use by individual consumers who are not medical professionals.

The device’s design demonstrates that it is not primarily intended for use in a medical institution or office, or by medical professionals”

I would rather see the tax show up on a receipt so that everyone sees just how much tax you are getting charged. I think there should be a law (and I hate laws) that every product should have an tax label, just like the FDA food label. I want to know how much fat, errr, I mean tax is in the "cost" of the product.

[dave_in_austin]

FYI this is a huge screw-up by Cabela's. You are entitled to a refund of your 'Medical Device Excise Tax' that you paid.

An excise tax is paid to the government by the manufacturer/importer and is NOT charged to the consumer (it may well be passed through, but as a consumer you should never see it). It is not "collected" from the consumer and paid to the government the way that sales taxes are.

Cabela's screwed the pooch on this one. There are stories all over the net about this.

A call to corporate with your receipt number or a trip back to the store should net you a simple/fast refund.

I already made a call to corporate and am still waiting for a callback. I will not drive back to the store to get an 82 cent refund. They should take care of it by phone.

[dave_in_austin]

2.9% on the sales tax as well? Tax on Tax?

That is the way Canada does their GST. GST is calculated after local sales tax, which the GST taxes.

No, the medical excise tax was on the merchandise cost. The sales tax amount was not taxed as a medical device.

[chasfm11]

Here's what's unfair about that...... In any quiz of 100% of the customers who walk in the Buda Cabelas (or any other Cabelas, for that matter), what do you suppose the percentage of Liberals to Conservatives is? I think it is un unfair to speculate that, because of the very nature of Cabelas business—hunting apparel, shooting supplies, guns, bow-hunting equipment, reloading equipment (did I mention hunting?)—the sampling would overwhelmingly favor conservatives......which means that they are being taxed to support Obamacare at a greater rate than liberals.......just a thought.

Sorry that I wasn't more clear. I don't think that the tax is applicable and that it was a programming screw-up that applied it.. I'm the first to admit that The Regime is capable of many underhanded things and that if they could get away with taxing hunting/shooting supplies using Obamacare, they would. Nope. it looks like reports are coming out that Cabela's messed this up.

The old saying about never attributing to malice that which can be explained as incompetence applies. In fairness to the guys who actually did the programming, they probably were under an unreasonable deadline to get the code out and gave it their best shot. Been there, done that, have the whipping marks to show for it.

[powerboatr]

where did you get the list, the FDA site is almost as big of a quagmire as the IRS site
thanks

Here

thank you

[Keith B]

The Medical Excise tax is part of Obamacare. However, it should not be charged on everything. You are not he only one it has happened to. Check this out http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/medicaldevice.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Looks like cabela's system is charging it on everything. Someone messed up on this in the system and they are gonna have a a BUNCH of refunds to give out.

[Heartland Patriot]

The Medical Excise tax is part of Obamacare. However, it should not be charged on everything. You are not he only one it has happened to. Check this out http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/medicaldevice.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Looks like cabela's system is charging it on everything. Someone messed up on this in the system and they are gonna have a a BUNCH of refunds to give out.

If it was a programming error, I'd hate to be the progammer(s)...under a deadline or not, I'd imagine some of them will probably be looking for new employment soon. Someone ALWAYS goes under the wheels of the bus when big bucks are involved.

[chasfm11]

The Medical Excise tax is part of Obamacare. However, it should not be charged on everything. You are not he only one it has happened to. Check this out http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/medicaldevice.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Looks like cabela's system is charging it on everything. Someone messed up on this in the system and they are gonna have a a BUNCH of refunds to give out.

If it was a programming error, I'd hate to be the progammer(s)...under a deadline or not, I'd imagine some of them will probably be looking for new employment soon. Someone ALWAYS goes under the wheels of the bus when big bucks are involved.

You are right that the programmer is almost always punished for the mus-interpretation but the fact is interpretation of laws as complex as Obamacare should never be a programming responsibility. Their job is to make the computer do what the business wants it to do. Unfortunately, like our bureaucrats. a lot of business managers abdicate their responsibility to define their business requirements. Those requirements especially include taxes.

I wish I had a $1 for every time a business manager told me and one of my teams " just do it - you know what I want" and then beat the stuffing out of us after the fact because we didn't properly read his mind.

There is another old adage - anyone can make a mistake but it you really want to mess up, it takes a computer.

[Bob in Big D]

This is almost too convienent not to be an Antigun programmer.........probably was an inside job!

[nitrogen]

Snopes had a story about it.

According to the story, it was a programming error, and cabelas will refund anyone affected.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/medicaldevice.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;