Midget Coins
1935: The U.S. Treasury considered introducing a "midget coin" that would be worth one-tenth of a cent. It would have been called the "mill". The idea was that people could use it to pay the sales tax on small purchases. As we've seen in a previous post, the sales tax often came out to fractions of a cent. However, Congress nixed the idea.
The only businesses that continue to charge tenths of a cent are gas stations. And apparently they began doing that back in the '30s because of the fractional sales tax.
More info: Wikipedia
The only businesses that continue to charge tenths of a cent are gas stations. And apparently they began doing that back in the '30s because of the fractional sales tax.
More info: Wikipedia
Baltimore Evening Sun - Aug 7, 1935
Fort Worth Star Telegram - Aug 2, 1935
Comments
The price of automobile fuel is mainly a psychological ploy. All fractional taxes are rounded up at time of sale. Do you really think that you are charged 4/10 of a cent tax if it calculates that way? Hateful, isn't it?
Posted by KDP on 12/07/20 at 10:54 AM
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Category: Money | 1930s