Sales and Use Tax. The State levies a general retail sales and use tax of 4.75%. The general rate applies to purchases of tangible commodities, certain digital property, room and cottage rentals, admission charges to an entertainment activity, service contracts, and laundry and dry cleaning services.
For the first time in U.S. history, the cost of manufacturing both a penny and a nickel is more than the 1-cent and 5-cent values of the coins themselves. Skyrocketing metals prices are behind the increase, the U.S. Mint said in a letter to members of Congress last week. The Mint estimates it will cost 1.23 cents per penny and 5.73 cents per nickel this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The cost of producing a penny has risen 27% in the last year, while nickel manufacturing costs have risen 19%. BACKGROUND:A brief history of the penny.
First U.S. penny sold for $1.2 million. The first U.S. penny sold for nearly $1.2 million Thursday night at an auction in Baltimore. The first U.S. penny is 223 years old, and is also worth a lot more than one cent. It sold for nearly $1.2 million Thursday night at an auction in Baltimore. The coin, known as the Birch Cent, was made in 1792, months after the one-cent denomination was first authorized by Congress, according to the auction house Stack's Bowers Galleries. It was made in a trial run for the penny, and depicts Lady Liberty.