No telling what's taxable (and what's not) in Pa.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

In the half-century since Pennsylvania enacted its sales tax, the state has carved out exemptions for goods and services that run the gamut from cradle to grave.

Typical exemptions are for basic needs - food and clothing. Or caskets and burial vaults, "the final basic necessity," says the reasoning in Gov. Rendell's phonebook-thick 2009-10 budget book.

But as Rendell has pointed out lately, the list includes gold. He promised he would take to a Phillies World Series game anyone who could "give me one plausible reason why we would exempt bullion, gold bullion."

Actually, he should know. He signed the bullion exemption into law on July 6, 2006, as a small part of a much broader bill.