Math is hard

By adamg on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 9:11am

And nobody knows that more than people in the news business, who cannot do math to save their lives (raises hand). So, it's probably not surprising we're now seeing stuff like this AP headline: MA House to debate 1.25 percent sales tax hike.

No, guys, they're not debating a 1.25% sales tax hike. They're debating a 25% sales tax hike. Go divide 1.25 by 5 and tell us what you get for an answer. Or go talk to one of your Wall Street reporters about percentage points (or "basis points" or whatever they call them).

Topics:

Media

Free tagging:

sales tax

Ad:

Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

Sorry Adam - I think you're

By anon on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 11:34am.

Sorry Adam - I think you're wrong on this one -- or at least that both ways are correct. It's true that the increase is 25% of the current rate, but it makes more sense to describe this as paying 1.25% additional tax on every purchase (6.25 - 5 = 1.25)

You're doing something wrong

By Nathan Williams on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 11:48am.

You're doing something wrong if you're ever talking about percentages of percentages. It's best referred to as a "1.25 point" hike.

Even if 25% is technically correct in some sense, it's also misleading to people who aren't following the numbers carefully, since nobody is proposing a sales tax of 30%.

Use basis points

By Quantum Mechanic on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 2:31pm.

Agreed. Personally, I'd prefer something like "...raising the sales tax by 125 basis points" as you avoid even mentioning the word "percentage" in the first place. But I concede that talking about bp will probably cause the average reader to be even more lost.

So I guess I'll settle for "increasing the tax by 1.25 percentage points".

I do disagree that "increase the tax by 25%" is an any way improper" since it succinctly and accurately states the relative increase. It lets someone know that if they are paying $100 of sales tax on something that they would pay $125 under the new proposal.

Exactly!

By Cleary Squared on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 7:51pm.

Personally, I'd prefer something like "...raising the sales tax by 125 basis points" as you avoid even mentioning the word "percentage" in the first place.

I can understand basis points, but many others might not. I think people get "increasing the sales tax from 5% to 6.25%" much quicker than "by an increase of 125 basis points" or "by an increase of 25%."

math is hard

By anon on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 5:38pm.

well i'm serfing the web for a good restaurant to go to in roslindale (if one exists) and i somehow came across this link and the discussion as to whether the sales tax increase is actually 1.25 percent or 25 percent... and I must admit this was the biggest waste of my time, reading this discussion AND also replying to it, that I could possibly think of (and I'm an engineer with a Math degree to boot) and I still don't know what restaurant to go to.
:(

Roslindale restaurants

By adamg on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 5:46pm.

What kind of food are you in the mood for?

Psst

By Kaz on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 6:41pm.

Don't feed the trolls.

Heh.