Being civic minded, I took my vehicle to a local repair shop. My first clue should have been that “Anglesea Auto Repair” is not in Anglesea, by about fourteen blocks. On the other hand, I also happened to know the owner, the brother of my late sister’s best friend. All I wanted was a new alternator, but he phoned me later and told me the vehicle needed all new belts.
After subtracting the AAA discount and adding the acquaintance penalties, the bill came to somewhat more than I expected, but it also seemed to be a bit higher than my math results showed. I surmised that my figures were probably in error, being that I’m a retired structural engineer, and know little about math, but nonetheless, I called the owner back, just to make sure he hadn’t made a mistake.
Actually, the problem was that he forgot to mention the “Tourism and Development” tax, which piggybacks the normal sales tax. He said this would be $24.65. This is to ensure that the municipality has adequate funds for the convention center, which hardly benefits year-round residents. I read the details of the technical bulletin, which indicated that auto repair shops are not considered a type of business subject to this particular tax. It also stated that the tax is two percent.
There is, however, a stipulation that a municipality can impose the tax on certain businesses not subject to the tax. In other words, if a type of business is exempt, it can be taxed anyway, meaning that it’s not exempt, even though it is. Right. . .
In order to clarify the intent of the law, and to ascertain why I should not take my vehicle out of town to be repaired, thus avoiding the additional tax, I called the North Wildwood city clerk, who said I should call the clerk’s office in Wildwood, which suggested calling the Wildwood Convention Center. The gentleman there stated that auto repair businesses pay a flat rate of $300.00 per year, which should not be passed on to the consumer.
When I picked up my vehicle, the owner of the shop said the tourism fee was listed as “shop supplies.” I told him I wanted it to show what he said it was, so he wrote, “Greater Wildwood Torism[sic] Devel Act.” He also charged me $6.80 for “hazardous materials,” and I asked him what that meant, being that he gave me the old belts to take with me. He said it was for disposal of rags and stuff, or something to that effect. Not that I suspected at this point that he wasn’t being entirely truthful, but I harbored some suspicions that it doesn’t cost him $6.80 to throw away a rag. Nonetheless, he said that the tourism tax was three percent, not two. Here we get into more fuzzy math. If $24.65 is three percent of the bill, then the total bill should have been $821.67, but again, what do I know? The total bill before discounts was supposedly $614.01, and was $555.75 after applying the discount, but before adding the sales tax. With 7 percent sales tax, the total is $594.65. No matter what percentage I use, I am unable to come up with a figure of $24.65, whether I use two, three, or four percent.
I have since learned that a state tax official is interested in knowing more about the fee that the shop owner is charging, and is wondering whether or not he’s actually making money from a tax he doesn’t have to pay. At any rate, she assured me that she will get a refund for me, if he is indeed charging for the tourism tax.
At this point, it’s still undecided as to who is the more stupid person, he or I? I’m going to go with him for now, while I await the final outcome. In the meantime, if you happen to live in the area and need your vehicle repaired, get in touch with me, and I’ll be happy to put in a good word for you with the shop owner. On the other hand, perhaps if he doesn’t know you, you might get a better deal. . . Or, you could just opt for a reputable repair shop.