By Ted Fortenberry - bio | email
The 1 percent tourism fee went into effect this past weekend within the city limits of Myrtle Beach. Unfortunately, there were many businesses outside the city limits that incorrectly charged their customers the additional fee.
Consider This: The mailing address for many zip codes in Horry County has Myrtle Beach listed as the location even though it does not fall within the boundaries of the city. It appears some businesses, mainly the larger chains, added the 1 percent tax even though they are outside the city limits. It seems the folks at the corporate offices changed the amount due to Myrtle Beach being listed as their mailing address, inadvertently thinking their business was located within the city limits. But thanks to some knowledgeable customers the stores were quickly informed of their error.
With any new policy it takes a while for everyone to get up to speed, but you would think a business would know whether or not they were located inside the city limits of a specific municipality. It certainly would have helped to eliminate some of the confusion and the frustration for many shoppers if the companies had done their research before they automatically updated their tax percentage.
The good news is this weekend you can enjoy some tax free shopping for certain items. However, the customers who were charged the extra percentage incorrectly would probably give you a friendly reminder to make sure you check your receipt.
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