I don’t go to the movies as often as I used to, partially because I no longer have a theater in walking distance, partially because so much out there is uninteresting dreck*. So it was a surprise when I went to see The Force Awakens** and find that the ticket price was the same as earlier this year — but now sales tax was tacked on to that price.
The ticket-taker said the change happened “a couple months ago,” which is one of the times of the year the Carmike chain has raised prices in the past. It’s a stealth move to pretend that prices haven’t increased — much like Mediacom giving one rate but neglecting to mention the “local broadcast surcharge,” “regional sports surcharge,” and sales tax on the franchise fee. Now the ticket-takers have to deal with loose change rather than exclusively in quarters, which I’m sure doesn’t make things go any faster.
Is this an Iowa thing, a national thing, or what? I don’t know. Here’s an article about North Carolina adding a sales tax to admission tickets starting Jan. 1, 2014, but there wasn’t any such modification to Iowa law. Regardless, it’s yet another example of average consumers being nickel-and-dimed, and that’s before checking out the highway-robbery prices at concession stands.