You won’t see it in writing. It’s not on any tax law books. But start looking at what you have been paying for almost everything you buy.

Hubby and I bought our usual take-out Chinese food. I was expecting our usual $29 cost only to find out that the same meal we ordered 8 months ago, now cost us $40. Ditto for a good friend of mine. She bought her usual take-out tacos (6 in total, plus 2 smallish soups) and got hit with a $70 bill! WTF?

It’s not just limited to our groceries, necessities, take-out meals……..Nope….it’s now on every single thing we buy. Companies have to make up for their pandemic losses and they are coming after YOU, the buyer, to play catch-up. The price of almost everything has gone up by at least an unspoken 25%. And guess what? You’ll pay it!

The secret Pandemic Tax is coming to a wallet near you.

I have a standard contract with my energy provider. I order a specific amount of gallons per year, they charge me a specific, agreed-upon amount each and every month of $187.76. At the end of the year when we tally up, I either owe them money or they owe me a credit. Thankfully, they send me a statement each month and when I looked at this month’s statement I noticed two strange charges. One was for $129.00 stating that since my usage was low (under 500 gallons) they tacked on a special fee. Plus, even though I pay them regularly each and every month, they started charging me interest ($5.17) WTF?

So, I was being penalized because I’m using less energy and even though they automatically charge my credit card every month, I was being charged a late finance fee? A quick phone call to their office got the extra charges taken off BUT how many other people out there do NOT look at their bills or just assume their automatic payments are taking care of everything?

I call this the sneaky ‘Pandemic Tax’. Businesses are suffering and they are going to start going after anyone who has a check book or a line of credit. Beware!

Look at ALL your incoming bills, people! Whomever has a checkbook is going to get fleeced.

New rule: Before you buy anything, ask how much it is going to cost.

So, in addition to the outrageous consumer price rise, we have to be on the lookout for some rather unscrupulous businesses. I can’t truly blame them. People are hurting and money (or the lack thereof) does strange things to people. It is up to us to be vigilant, watch our dollars, ask questions and be very careful how and where we spend our shrinking dollars.

In the CPI, the cost of some services jumped sharply. Motor vehicle insurance was up 9.3% in July, on top of a 5.1% increase in June. Wireless telephone services rose 3.6%.

Goods also rose. Prices for used cars and trucks climbed 2.3%, while new car prices increased 0.8%.

Airline fares also rose, up 5.4% in July, on top of a 2.6% jump in June. Shelter costs rose 0.2%, or 2.3% year over year. 

The cost of food at home fell 1.1%, after rising 0.7% in June. Food away from home also rose 0.5% in both June and July, as restaurants reopened and consumers could have more meals outside of their homes.

The government said the cost of food at home index rose 4.6% over the last 12 months, with gains in six major grocery store food groups. Beef was up 14.2% , while fruits and vegetables were up 2.3% over the 12 months. Click here for info source.

This Just In: (click here) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said they would impose a new fee to insulate themselves from losses on refinanced mortgages they guarantee, a sign of potential turbulence in the housing market and a move likely to generate pushback from lenders.

As I’ve said, be on the look out for those Pandemic Fees.