There is an amusing item in the New York section of the Wall Street Journal. Apparently, Albany is so hurting for cash that it is now enforcing a little-known tax on bagels . . . that is, if you slice a bagel, you pay around $0.08 in tax.
Says the Journal: "What's the tax on a bagel? It depends how you slice it—or in the case of New York, if you slice it.
"State tax officials, under orders from cash-strapped Albany to ramp up their audit and compliance efforts, have begun to enforce one of the more obscure distinctions within the state's sales tax law.
In New York, the sale of whole bagels isn't subject to sales tax. But the tax does apply to "sliced or prepared bagels (with cream cheese or other toppings)," according to the state Department of Taxation and Finance. And if the bagel is eaten in the store, even if it's never been touched by a knife, it's also taxed."