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.
The mint experimented with 1936-dated coins struck in 1937 with a dot added to the design to distinguish them from coins struck earlier. Dot Cents were long considered unavailable as all three were held by noted American numismatist John Jay Pittman, who paid $250 for them in 1954. rare Canadian penny billed as the king of Canadian coins was purchased for $402,500 US at a New York auction Sunday. The famed 1936 Canadian Dot Cent was the highlight of a group of coins billed as the single most substantial collection of Canadian coins ever offered at public auction.