>"A rose by any other name...". It may not be the case in all the States but, when I was in NY NY, I bought a T-shirt and was disgruntled to find out that I had to pay a few extra bucks to what was on the price tag. It was explained to me that this was state tax, or purchase tax, or whatever - it was a tax on my purchase. This is true in Canada as well. Here, the price on an item is the price incl. VAT, so no unpleasant surprises.

The few shops here which were showing prices with tax included are extinct, because they appeared to be more expensive than those who don't. Which is ridiculous, but that's the importance of perception. That's why the most important skill an add reader must have is to nicely pronounce "ninetynine". Even the gasoline prices are advertised as 1.99 9/10... wich is just one millidolar below two bucks, but psychologically sounds so much better than $2.00. People fall for it, and so it goes.