Thaindian News

By Madhuri Dey
Aug 26, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Each time you think of consuming a slice bagel or prepared bagel at a store you might end up paying tax for the food consumed. The New York State tax officials have come up with a new tax code for Bagel sale under which sales tax for sliced or prepared bagels will be enforced. While whole Bagels consumed in a store falls under the tax clause, whole bagels carried out of the store will not be taxed. The new bagel tax clause was announced by Department of Taxation and Finance.

Explaining the new clause, spokesperson for the Department of Taxation and Finance, Brad Maione said to media sources that “any handling or preparation at the shop turns it [bagel] into a taxable event”. He also added that the new tax rules are being implemented due to introduction of better technology. However the food chains and bagel-store owners are not satisfied with the tax rule and maintained in front of the media sources that it has come as a surprise to them.

Kenneth Green, the owner of Bruegger’s Bagel franchises that has around 33 stores all over New York, said that he finds the present bagel tax “unfair”. He maintained that in the past 20 years, the auditors have visited the store four times but have never raised “this question before”. The owner maintained that it was asked to pay a hefty back tax after the recent audit. He maintained that the chain had never collected any tax from its customers but it was asked to pay around three years back tax to the department. Some media sources claim that the latest Bagel clause in the sales tax has comes after the DTF recently found that Bruegger’s Bagel was violating some back tax.