Michigan 6% sales tax on food prepared in a supermarket In Michigan, food sold in supermarkets is exempt from the 6% sales tax. In contrast, food that you get in say a restaurant is not. The fuzzy area is food that is prepared in supermarkets. E.g. Pizza or rotisserie chicken baked in the supermarket itself. (Most people who buy such items will usually bring it home. But in many supermarkets you will also have the option of sitting and eating there, because there will be some tables and chairs.) Are these supposed to be subject to the 6% sales tax? On such food items, most supermarkets do not seem to charge that 6% sales tax. However, I bought a rotisserie chicken from Wal-Mart yesterday (prepared in Wal-Mart itself) and at the register, a 6% sales tax was added on. So what should the correct tax treatment be?
Yes, they should be. In most states that have a tax such as this, it's called a &quot;prepared foods&quot; tax, which is merely a tax on any food intended to be consumed immediately after purchase. The relevant document for Michigan can be found online, although most states with prepared foods taxes follow the same general principles for what is considered prepared food (I live in Nebraska and our definitions for this tax are almost exactly the same). “Prepared food” is: food sold in a heated state or that is heated by the seller; two or more food ingredients mixed or combined by the seller for sale as a single item, or; food sold with eating utensils provided by the seller, including knives, forks, spoons, glasses, cups, napkins, straws, or plates, but not including a container or packaging used to transport the food. “Prepared food” does not include: food that is only cut, repackaged, or pasteurized by the seller; raw eggs, fish, meat, poultry, and foods containing those raw items requiring cooking by the consumer in recommendations contained in section 3-401.11 of part 3-4 of chapter 3 of the 2001 food code published by the food and drug administration of the public health service of the department of health and human services, to prevent foodborne illness; food sold in an unheated state by weight or volume as a single item, without eating utensils, or; bakery items (including bread, rolls, buns, biscuits, bagels, croissants, pastries, doughnuts, danish, cakes, tortes, pies, tarts, muffins, bars, cookies, and tortillas) sold without eating utensils. So, regardless if an item might otherwise fall within the definition of “prepared food” outlined above, if that item is described in one of the exclusions to “prepared food,” it is not “prepared food.”
Michigan law say nothing about landlord entry, so whatever it says in the lease is what is allowed. Various sources like this comment on the lack of such statutory regulations. There does not appear to be any relevant case law for Michigan which impose restrictions on a landlord's right to access a rental. Since there is no statutory or case law restriction on landlord's right to access his property, landlord's agent would have the same right to access. That would mean that if the listing agent were authorized by the landlord to enter, then the agent could enter, and it would not be necessary for the landlord to accompany this agent whenever entry was needed. That does not mean that a "listing agent" that happens to work with a landlord has an independent right to enter the landlord's property. The same would go for repairmen. It is actually not clear to me whether there could be blanket permission for any and all with access to the lock box to enter, since pretty much any realtor can enter a house for sale, subject to whatever the stated limitations are, and they don't call the owner for each entry. I suspect that one would not have legal grounds for imposing a particular additional restriction on a landlord's right to access and permit access to the property, since there's no overriding statute, and restrictions on landlord access mainly derive from statutes.
If it’s your pizza, yes The civil equivalent of theft is the tort of conversion, “consisting of &quot;taking with the intent of exercising over the chattel an ownership inconsistent with the real owner's right of possession&quot;. In England &amp; Wales, it is a tort of strict liability.”
This is not "libel," which is a form of defamation (publishing a false and defamatory statement that injures another). "Bait and switch" is a type of violation of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Law. That Law makes it illegal for a business to engage in any false or deceptive practices, or to perform any false or deceptive acts, in commerce. Read more about it on the Massachusetts' state government site. If the restaurant's conduct was deceptive and it caused you harm (for instance, you would not have gone into the restaurant and ordered at all if you had known you had to order a drink to get the favorable price on sliders,) there may be a violation.
The precise details (and citations) will vary with jurisdiction, so this answer deals only with principles. If you pick up and "take possession of" property belonging to somebody else, you are a thief. [Note that 'taking possession' rather than picking up to restore to the owner/correct place is what makes the difference, which is why in real life nobody who cannot prove your intention will take action; but your question explicitly concedes the point.] If the property does not belong to the supermarket, you are not stealing from them, but from the currently unidentified owner: this makes no legal difference. You might conceivably have a defence if you can prove that the owner has abandoned the property, whatever the definition of "abandoned" is in your jurisdiction (note that it is up to you to show this, and possibly that you knew it before you picked up the property). If it belongs to the supermarket, this cannot be true; if a box of matches has fallen out of someone's pocket, it might possibly be (whatever the laws are, it is very unlikely that they have ever been applied in such a trivial case, so there may be some uncertainty). in any case, the shop is undoubtedly allowed to throw you out, ban you from returning to their premises, and inform other shops and the police that they believe you to be a petty thief, based on their experience.
A capital gains tax is due on the sale, if the sale price for the car is more than the adjusted basis of the car for the person who made the gift of the car. If a car had been owned by the donor as non-business property and not depreciated, and there are no major upgrades to the car (e.g. trading a V6 for a V8 engine), the adjusted basis of the car will normally be the cash price for which the donor bought it (assuming that the donor bought it for cash at arms-length). If the donor bought the car new, the sale of the car for $10,000 will almost surely be less than the purchase price that the donor paid. But if the donor bought the car used for less than $10,000, then there would be some capital gain on the sale which would be reported as part of one's California and United States income taxes in the year of the sale by the gift recipient. The exact rate due would depend upon the seller's tax brackets, which would also be based on other income. In addition, there would probably be California DMV charges for a new license and registration, which could be characterized as a tax, but which are normally paid by the purchaser, along with sales tax.
england-and-wales Yes it is legal. There is no law prohibiting such behaviour. A restaurant menu invites people to ask for items on the menu. People are free to make other offers too, e.g. &quot;no cheese&quot; or &quot;will you add an egg?&quot; or &quot;will you accept £10 for the burger, it's all I have?&quot; The customer is free to make an offer and the restauranteur is free to accept or refuse the offer. &quot;No I don't want to sell you a burger patty on its own for £3.&quot; Unfair contract terms seem irrelevant because there is no contract at the stage when the customer asks the restauranteur for a food item.
When the buyer hears &quot;to avoid sales tax&quot; and hears the seller describing as a gift something that s/he knows was nothing of the sort, a reasonable buyer would know that this was at best suspicious, and would find out if this was legal. But assuming that the buyer accepted the seller's suggestion ignorantly and in good faith, the buyer can file a report of the transaction and pay any tax that should have been paid. The exact way of doing this will vary based on the laws of the buyer's jurisdiction (state-level if in the US) which is not given in the question. Such a report and payment might not prevent the local tax authorities from assessing an additional penalty. Criminal charges seem unlikely, but would be possible. If the seller was a used car dealer, the authorities might want the buyer to testify against the seller. They buyer might be wise to consult a lawyer with expertise in sales tax issues in the buyer's jurisdiction. Such a lawyer could advise on exactly what the buyer's legal obligation was, and how to avoid or minimize penalties or other consequences.