Originally posted by stevebrot No, not national, but I believe that Washington has an inventory tax that is balanced against the B&O (gross receipts) tax with the result that there is a disincentive to holding inventory without sales. I don't believe that Oregon has one, though the option is a periodic item of discussion along with a state sales tax.
Steve
There it is!
Originally posted by Parallax No, you don't pay a (federal) tax on inventory. Difference in inventory from the previous year is part of the income/loss determination for the year. A dollar in income is a dollar in income, whether I put it in my pocket or buy inventory with it. The actual dollar value of the inventory is irrelevant to the equation. i.e. 50,000 last year and 51,000 would yield the same tax liability as 2,000 last year and 1,000 this year, if all other figures are equal.
As Steven commented, it is a local thing. I knew there was something, just couldn't quite place it. I know that at certain times of year you see lots of people in the larger stores wearing a vest (at least in some stores) that has something on it that identifies them as not regular store employees. They usually have a clipboard and a barcode scanner, and are feverishly busy scanning and counting the merchandise.
There will also be tags here and there that say, "DNI" or "DO NOT INVENTORY". I suppose they are for stuff that is not regular inventory, and is not to be counted.
One of two things that sre certain, death and taxes. I suppose that the latter is better than the former, but we all whine about it.
And because of taxes I cannot buy a K3.