[Speed Gibson,
Tuesday June 6, 2006 at 10:34pm]
Improper Fractions
Why can't our leaders talk straight about sales tax percentages?
The Twins stadium? Why, that's 3 cents on double sawbuck. If you don't know that a sawbuck is ten dollars, then they'll at least tell you that it's 3 cents on $20. For some reason, we aren't good enough at math to figure out what 0.15% is.
Now, they working on that "dedicated funding" amendment for the outdoors. In the latest move, the GOP proposed this:
Can't we just say the new tax will be 6.65% (7.15% Mpls) or 6.7125% (7.2125%) or 6.775% (7.275%)? Maybe we might pay too much attention to the digit to the left of the decimal point.
An old banker joke tells of an indignant customer confronting the teller at a bank paying 4 1/4% interest, demanding to know when they were going to start paying 4 1/8% like the bank across the street. Is the same thing going on here?
The Twins stadium? Why, that's 3 cents on double sawbuck. If you don't know that a sawbuck is ten dollars, then they'll at least tell you that it's 3 cents on $20. For some reason, we aren't good enough at math to figure out what 0.15% is.
Now, they working on that "dedicated funding" amendment for the outdoors. In the latest move, the GOP proposed this:
The plan would ask voters to approve an additional 1/16th of one percent sales tax for clean water funding and an additional 1/16th for fish and wildlife funding.Let me see now, that's 3/2000 plus 1/1600 plus another 1/1600 in addition to the 6.5% or 7% we pay now, an additional 11/40 of one percent.
Can't we just say the new tax will be 6.65% (7.15% Mpls) or 6.7125% (7.2125%) or 6.775% (7.275%)? Maybe we might pay too much attention to the digit to the left of the decimal point.
An old banker joke tells of an indignant customer confronting the teller at a bank paying 4 1/4% interest, demanding to know when they were going to start paying 4 1/8% like the bank across the street. Is the same thing going on here?