In the UK, VAT (消費税) is 20%. For a long time is was 17.5%. In Japan it was 5%, but recently it rose to 8%. Because I was used to a high VAT rate (消費税率) I didn't think 8% was too bad.

But I do have a problem. I don't know many prices now.

Before, the price of an item is the price you must pay. If a t-shirt has a price tag (値札) with 1,500 yen, you will pay 1,500 yen. It was easy. England has the same system (制度／方法).

But now shops have two systems.

System 1. Show the price with tax (税込) and without tax (税抜). This is helpful because you can understand how much you must pay. I think that this system is good. Unfortunately (残念ながら) many shops use System 2.

System 2. Show the price without tax and say "Plus Tax" (＋税金). This is not very helpful because it is difficult to understand how much you must pay. If you are not good at maths (算数に上手くない) you must wait until you go to the register (レジ).

I want to know how much I must pay before I go to the register. If I have to look through my wallet (財布) to find money, it wastes (浪費する) time. If there are other customers waiting, it wastes their time too.

Oh! Everything at the 100 yen shop is now 108 yen. The change (おつり) is such a pain!

How Much Is That?