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.
Adjusted for inflation, an 1870 penny would be worth about 31 cents today. The first coins of the Dominion of Canada were issued in 1870, although the penny was not added until 1876. The penny had been in use in what is now Canada since 1858, when the province of Canada adopted the decimal system. From 1858 to 1907, Canadian coins were struck at mints in England.