problem with alias column field

[Sudianto Teja]

I have a question regarding the mysql SELECT statement. Is it possible to use an alias in the expression for another alias, for example:

SELECT net,
tax_rate,
net / tax_rate AS tax,
net + tax AS gross
FROM items

But that dosent work, mysql dosent allow an alias in the SELECT statement (says it cant find a field called tax), which is kind of annoying as it means i have to duplicate all my calculations like this:

SELECT net,
tax_rate,
net / tax_rate AS tax,
net + (net / tax_rate) AS gross
FROM items

This might not seem like a big deal in this query, but i have some other far more complicated queries where its just a pain. Is there any way to do this, it seems like it should be possible.

Thanks.