5 Celebrity Sales Tax Payments Higher Than Your Paycheck
by November 1, 2020
We often hear about celebrities making extravagant purchases. Whether it’s jewelry, vehicles, houses, vacations, or some other luxury, the price tags often boggle the mind. It could be a multi-million car or thousands for a Halloween prop; whatever the item the totals seem so outlandish and crazy.
Ok, they actually ARE outlandish and crazy. But there’s another side most don’t even consider – how much in taxes are these people paying? Specifically, sales tax has to be insane when it comes to some of these items, adding to the already intense totals.
Want to know what these celebs are actually shelling out for their goods? Assuming these celebs paid sales tax, here are a few recent examples we figured up using TaxJar’s Sales Tax Calculator.
Taylor Lautner’s Mercedes-Benz 2012 SLS AMG
A few years back during the Twilight movie madness, super popular and hunky werewolf Taylor Lautner bought himself a fancy new Mercedes-Benz. Just look at this thing, it has gull wing doors! It jumps from 0-60 in less than 4 seconds and has a max speed of 200 MPH.
Speaking of 200, that’s how much he shelled out – $200,000 that is.
Tax Rate in Beverly Hills: 6.5% California base rate plus 2.5% local equals 9%
Sales Tax Paid: $18,000
Grand Total: $218,000
Celine Dion’s Humidifier
Not exactly in the same league as a fun sports car, but hey, Celine Dion has to take care of her famous lungs. That’s why she bought a $2 million humidifier to protect her singing voice and make sure she doesn’t get sick or dried out before a big show. Considering how hot & dusty Vegas is, it’s a good idea!
Tax Rate at the Las Vegas Strip: 4.6% Nevada base rate plus 3.5% local equals 8.10%
Sales Tax Paid: $162,000
Grand Total: $2,162,000
Victoria Beckham’s iPhone Case
Think your last iPhone case was a little expensive? You haven’t seen anything yet! Posh Spice lived up to her name by shelling out $33,622 for a 24 carat gold case. Before you scoff, you should also know it also comes with a hand-finished wallet made from…ostrich foot. So, ok, go ahead and scoff.
Tax Rate in Beverly Hills: 6.5% California base rate plus 2.5% local equals 9%
Sales Tax Paid: $3025.98
Grand Total: $36,647.98
Nicolas Cage’s Dinosaur Skull
Not every purchase is a random car or something for work – sometimes it’s EXTRA random like a dinosaur skull! Nicolas Cage outbid Leonardo Dicaprio for a 67 million year old dino dome worth $270,000. It’s Nic Cage, so we can’t say we’re totally surprised.
Tax Rate in Beverly Hills: 6.5% California base rate plus 2.5% local equals 9%
Sales Tax Paid: $24,300
Grand Total: $294,300
Justin Bieber’s Gold Grill
No, Biebs isn’t grilling steaks on a solid gold George Foreman. He bought a custom made mouthpiece for a Halloween outfit a few years back through Los Angeles company If & Co. Naturally, his management and the “grillmaker” made sure to tell stressed out Beliebers the grill wasn’t permanent!
Tax Rate in Los Angeles: 6.5% California base rate plus 2.5% local equals 9%
Sales Tax Paid: $450
Grand Total: $5,450
What’s the most extravagant celebrity purchase you’ve ever raised an eyebrow at?
2023 Sales Tax Preparedness Guide
Discover sales tax trends and changes that could impact your compliance in 2023. You’ll also find helpful information on product taxability, and how to manage hitting economic nexus thresholds in new states this shopping season.
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