Shopper wins toilet paper tax case against Kmart

Pittsburgh Post-Gzette ^ | November 30, 2007 | Patricia Sabatini

[rightwingintelligentsia]

Murrysville resident Mary Bach has won her small claims suit against Kmart for improperly charging her state sales tax on toilet tissue.

District Judge Jeffrey Herbst yesterday ordered Kmart to pay $100 in damages plus $59.50 in court costs.

The longtime consumer advocate sued in September after being charged 28 cents tax on a $3.99, 12-pack of Angel Soft toilet tissue on two separate occasions at the Kmart store on Mall Boulevard in Monroeville.

Although most paper goods are taxable in Pennsylvania, toilet tissue is exempt.

"I'm delighted," Mrs. Bach said yesterday shortly after the judge's ruling.

Kmart, which was represented by the Pittsburgh office of Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, will not appeal the ruling, Kmart spokeswoman Kim Freely said.

[Red Badger]

Well, that should wipe the slate clean.......

[Slapshot68]

“Kmart, which was represented by the Pittsburgh office of Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, will not appeal the ruling, Kmart spokeswoman Kim Freely said.”

It’s unbelievable that someone in their corporate accounting department didn’t take the time to look up the sales tax exemptions in PA and let it proceed to trial. His or her head is probably rolling right now.

[Constitution Day]

She’s on a roll

[Democracy In Iraq]

In our next episode, Mary Bach fights taxes on Uranus.

[Quick Shot]

Kmart..... Wiping up the rear.

[Squawk 8888]

The jokes will write themselves...

[Fresh Wind]

At one square per “event”, that 12-pack should last her the rest of her life.

[relictele]

It’s unbelievable that someone in their corporate accounting department didn’t take the time to look up the sales tax exemptions in PA and let it proceed to trial. His or her head is probably rolling right now.

If you've been to a KMart lately you will probably wonder how they get their key in the door. I'm not a huge Wal Mart fan but KMart is a shambles.

[UCFRoadWarrior]

Rats...you beat me to the Sheryl Crow reference...

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Well at least she doesn’t have to get her panties in a bunch.

[ARE SOLE]

Your tag line seems to apply to this post.

Regards

[Slapshot68]

“If you’ve been to a KMart lately you will probably wonder how they get their key in the door. I’m not a huge Wal Mart fan but KMart is a shambles.”

Our local KMart is definitely a disaster. We have a Super Walmart and Target that are only a couple of miles away. Both the Walmart and the Target are huge, clean and cheap. The KMart has things sitting in the aisles, unfriendly help and higher prices!

I’m shocked the store is still open. I can only imagine it’s because the Sears merger was able to pump more cash into it. However, it doesn’t like they’re doing anything to compete...which is why KMart got in trouble to begin with.

[Fresh Wind]

I guess I’ll have to change my tag line!

[UCFRoadWarrior]

Whew...at least TP will be cheaper for the Pitt fans heading to WVU for the game this weekend

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Luckily it was only a small claims case, where a plaintiff cannot be represented by an attorney. Guess those lawyers will have to 2-ply their trade elsewhere.

[grjr21]

after being charged 28 cents tax on a $3.99, 12-pack of Angel Soft toilet tissue

I find you get treated better when your Charmin 

[SoothingDave]

It’s unbelievable that someone in their corporate accounting department didn’t take the time to look up the sales tax exemptions in PA and let it proceed to trial.

It's a computer systems error. A human has to tell the computer what to charge tax on and what to exempt.

KMart was being sued for not correcting their error.

[Tribune7]

ping

[HeartlandOfAmerica]

I wanna know where the damage is

for $.28 she rates $160?

.28 is not exactly damage.

[mtairycitizen]

SO this lady spends months of her life to complain
about $.58. Get a life.

[FReepaholic]

...SO this lady spends months of her life to complain about $.58. Get a life....

No, she spent months in order to help her fellow citizens.

K-mart and others will take notice and hopefully clean up their act.

They've been put on notice that citizens are tired of being ripped off. Even if it's only $.58.

Good on her!

[Slapshot68]

“It’s a computer systems error. A human has to tell the computer what to charge tax on and what to exempt.”

That would still be someone’s responsibility to correct. And it seems a simple thing to, before allowing it to go to trial, to make sure the computer is charging items correctly.

[deport]

Ping...

[50sDad]

Lawyers are odd birds. I was in a copyright lawsuit with a major manufacturer of collectible cr@p over something I wrote 25 years ago that magically turned up as part of something they were selling. They could have written me a check for four figures the day I first phoned them, said “sorry, we messed up” and I would have been happy. Instead, they spent probably tens of thousands on depositions, lawyers, etc. and in the end, paid me about what I would have taken in the first place.

[napscoordinator]

SO this lady spends months of her life to complain
about $.58. Get a life.

She actually made .58 cents into 158 dollars. That is a huge gain in only months. If only my stocks would increase like that.

[tort_feasor]

Pennsylvania has no restriction on lawyers representing plaintiff’s or defendant’s in District Justice (Small Claims) cases.

[SoothingDave]

That would still be someone’s responsibility to correct.

Yes, it was KMart's responsibility to correct. I would assume that she got overcharged once and complained to the store. When she got overcharged the sceond time, she sued because KMart failed to correct its systems.

Seems fair enough. How many people was KMart taking money from unfairly and for how long without correcting their systems?

And it seems a simple thing to, before allowing it to go to trial, to make sure the computer is charging items correctly.

Yeah. And had they done that, they wouldn't have gotten sued.

[OCCASparky]

And if I found this, I'd lose double that for taking a day off to go to court.

The litigation lottery continues. WTF is wrong with simply asking for her 28 cents back?

[OCCASparky]

She actually made .58 cents into 158 dollars. That is a huge gain in only months. If only my stocks would increase like that.

If your name was Hillary Clinton or Terry McAuliffe, they would.

[ErnBatavia]

Funny, but it's the opposite around here. We have a pretty new Super Wally in our fairly affluent city and it's a pigsty. Over in brown collar Indio, there's a KMart that's probably 40 years old, and it's always spotless.

Management...

[SoothingDave]

WTF is wrong with simply asking for her 28 cents back?

Every time you go shopping, you want to go back and stand in line and pore over your receipts and explain to the manager what is and is not taxable and then receive a refund?

Or is it reasonable to expect the store to charge the right price in the first place, especially after they are made aware of their error?

[rawhide]

I haven’t been in the K-Mart store in my town but once in the past year. I always ask myself, “Why do I even bother to come here?” To even think about going to K-Mart sickens me to my stomach. They will definitely be going out of business in the next few years. And their malaise is taking Sears with them.

[KarlInOhio]

I've run into a similar problem in Ohio. Soft drinks here are charged sales tax. However, the definition of a soft drink largely depends on whether it is sweetened, so unsweetened iced tea (which I drink a lot) is supposed to be untaxed. A lot of stores and restaurants don't know this and just roll them in with the rest of the soft drinks. I've never gotten off my butt to complain about a dime every now and then.

[knuthom]

WTF is wrong with simply asking for her 28 cents back?

She sued to make a point. They were charging taxes that were not legal. It may have been only .28 to her, but that tax was also charged to thousands of other customers.

[atlaw]

SO this lady spends months of her life to complain about $.58. Get a life.

Small claims court. If its set up like Texas' small claims system, she probably spent about four hours on it, trial time included. Pretty efficient system.

[jdub]

A lot of stores and restaurants don't know this and just roll them in with the rest of the soft drinks.

A lot of store and restaurants are not only fully aware that those items are not taxable, but are also aware that virtually no customer knows that they aren't. So they can collect and keep that sales tax. It might only be 25 cents, but 25 cents X 10,000 customers is money, and pure profit.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I didn’t know that; I was incorrectly extrapolating from CA law: generally a mistake. Is that at all characteristic of Eastern states?

[KarlInOhio]

Unlikely. I doubt that they then go back and figure out which items they legally charged sales tax and send that to the state while keeping the money they illegally charged sales tax. Charging sales tax and then keeping it is an offense that could send you to prison.

More likely is that the person who checks the tax/untax box just isn't familiar with this hair splittingly fine detail of Ohio tax law.

[LIConFem]

*smack*

Now don't ever do that again!

[Red Badger]

She put the squeeze on their Charmin..............

[LIConFem]

Oooooh, just wait ‘til your father gets home!!

[BfloGuy]

KMart was being sued for not correcting their error.

I wonder if she'd even bothered to alert them or if she just likes playing self-righteous, indignant consumer activist.

[jdub]

For a company like KMart, you are most certainly right that they wouldnt do something so stupid. But little independent markets do stuff like that all the time.

[Born Conservative]

58 cents, which is a TAX THAT GOES TO THE GOVERNMENT. Do you think that the government needs MORE of OUR money?

[Slings and Arrows]

I'm glad the case didn't get bogged down.

[MyOld66GTO]

Please be aware that by law you are required to turn over any excess collections of sales tax or return them to the purchaser. I am a tax professional and have had problems over time with Walmart for charging tax on US and State flags which are generally exempt by most state jurisdictions. I have flat refused to pay the tax and ended up with a manager each time. I even went as far to drop off the regs for one manager so he could pass it on to corporate. These big box stores have a tendancy to mark taxable on most items of personal property and they do turn over the tax collected to the state on a monthly basis by the 20th of the month following so the state is the big winner.

[Gondring]

ping

[tort_feasor]

I know it holds for PA and NJ where I am licensed to practice.