but really...how much does it costs?

Well, *I* can't purchase good fabric for $1. Some people have a real knack for finding good deals, but not me. (I'm not sure how to translate "knack" - gift, perhaps, or ability?) My LQS carries a range of fabrics from about US$6.50 (5.5 Euro) to US$10 (8.5 Euro). Most of what I buy falls in the $7-9 range.

Some of it is simple economics. Lots of cotton textiles are produced in the US. They don't have to travel as far for us to buy them. According to Pepper Cory (fabric designer, quilt artist), the US resurgence of quilting was almost single-handedly responsible for reviving the cotton textile industry in the US. The cotton industry was dying, there was almost no demand, with the popularity of man-made fibers. Then, in the 1980s, when quilting became popular again, quilters started demanding cotton fabrics again.

Any time you want to trade, let me know. I'd willing exchange any amount of US fabric for something I can't get here. I love textiles of all kinds!

Sales tax here in Germany is 16% (and will probably go up to 18% soon). In Denmark it's 25%. That's a significant part of the price difference. Roberta in D

"frood" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:ixnff.1546$ snipped-for-privacy@twister.southeast.rr.com...

VAT here in the UK is 17.5% and isn't charged on all items. You don't pay it on what the government class as "essentials" like food, books and children's clothing. It is factored into the price though - if the tag says £10 per metre that's what you pay. The VAT is never shown as a separate figure unless you're a business person dealing with invoices and the suchlike.

I remember being very confused first time in America when I took a can of Coke I thought was 50 cents to the till and they charged me 60 something cents - thought I was being ripped off! Morag

Poor people on food stamps don't pay sales tax on the food they purchase with the stamps any where in the US. Missouri doesn't charge tax on food items but Arkansas does. If I need a lot of things I drive the few miles to the Missouri state line and shop at the Walmart Super Center in Jane, MO to avoid sales tax. That reminds me. I live in a dry county and I need to drive to the state line to pick up some rum for my fruit cakes and some apple brandy for the thanksgiving punch.

Whoa!

Wrong wrong wrong!

Some stores let you buy taxed food items but charge you cash for the tax. Some do not let you buy any item which has a tax on it. Either way if a food item is taxed you pay the tax. I imagine it varies state to state. I know that NY is a bit confusing over what is taxed and sometimes what is foodstampable, and I imagine it is much the same elsewhere.

NightMist

In VA food is taxed, those with food stamps are not charged tax, in cash or otherwise. I worked in retail, food and other stuff, until I retired last January.

Bonnie, in Middletown, VA

Its federal policy that you can't charge sales tax on purchases made with food stamps. Anyone who charges sales tax for items purchased with food stamps could lose their ability to collect food stamps for payment and pay a still penality. You need to call the Food Stamp hotline if someone is charging sales tax for these items. Now they can charge sales tax for non foodstamp items and you may confusing that. Foodstamps can pay for any food item - candy, coke, etc. But it won't pay for toilet paper, soap or laundry supplies. Foodstamps are a federal program and individual states can't change the basic federal policy. As an eligibility worker I have had multiple workshops and been tested too many times over this stuff. You can go online and the Foodstamp Policy manuals are there for everyone to read as well as the Federal mandates.

Well I reckon that next month come mother's day I am going to be scrutinizing my reciepts and possibly making some phone calls then.

For I am sure as anything that the one store does not allow us to buy any food that has tax on it, and another charges us tax seperately for food stamp purchases. Wouldn't make much difference if the stores had a clue about what they should tax and what they shouldn't. Sometimes though you get an item that for the life of you you can't figure out why they are taxing it.

You know you are supposed to be able to buy food seeds with them too, but I have never run across a store that lets you. Pity that, some really hard years it would have saved us a lot of grief.

NightMist