09-15-2012, 02:25 AM
For California at least, it's been like that for many years, even before the iPhone. In the state's sales tax view, there's no such thing as a "free phone".
That was one reason why I used to buy refurbished AT&T prepaid Go Phones to use as replacements for our Post-Paid plan, the sales tax on them was the based on the actual sale price, so paying for the refurb + tax was cheaper than a "free phone" + high sales tax, and also didn't lock you into a two year contract.
That was one reason why I used to buy refurbished AT&T prepaid Go Phones to use as replacements for our Post-Paid plan, the sales tax on them was the based on the actual sale price, so paying for the refurb + tax was cheaper than a "free phone" + high sales tax, and also didn't lock you into a two year contract.