Moments after grabbing Saturday’s Portland Press Herald from the news rack in Brunswick, I placed $1.80 for the newspaper on the counter (a dollar bill, two quarters and three dimes).
The counter clerk rang it up and said, “That’ll be $1.90.” Jokingly, I pointed to the lead front-page headline, “STATE GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN,” and said, “Hey, if the Maine government is shut down, then no tax can be collected.”
She looked at me so taken aback. She thought I was serious. So I paid the tax with a dime. But taking her up on her seriousness, if the government is shut down, why do we have to still pay a tax on purchased goods?
David Snieckus
Orr’s Island
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.