hi guys,

i'm trying to settle a dispute with my friend here...we both live in sydney, australia...

and i say that the US has a GST - goods and services tax....in all states!..that is...if an item costs $10, when you pay at the counter it will cost you $10 + GST (which is 8.5% approx. right?) = $10.85

correct??...this applies to every state?


my friend - believes that this only applies to california and another state (which he doesn't recall...arizona perhaps?)...and every other state in the US is tax free in regards to goods and services


obviously you wuold all still be paying income tax

 

Sorry, you lost the bet ;-)

the US has no federal SALES tax, but there is a federal tax based on your income and assets. Nearly every state has sales tax collected on purchases with a few exceptions (Oregon). In general, these states collect funds elsewhere (ie. property taxes...)

-- Chris

 

thanks chris

so in re to the sales tax in the majority of states....is this at a set percentage?...or is it variable from state to state

is there a tax on services?

 

its not a set percentage, it DOES very state to state.
tax on services is also a variable.

hope this helps.
Demian

Edit: If you see Amanda Johnston, from Wollongong, say hello for me


[Modified by killingtime, 7:10 PM 3/26/2002]

 

oh ok thanks...wow...tax time sounds like it could be very confusing in the US...

so for example...if i was a retailer looking to purchase more stock..i could effectively 'shop around' for the best tax rate from different states to find the one where i could puchase things at the lowest price?...doesn't this sound like tax evasion?

ahhaha..what are they chances of me knowing a chick from wollongong?
tho its only 1 hr drive from where i live

 

Delaware has no sales tax..

But North Carolina does..

If you were purchasing stock for resale it would be purchased "tax-exempt".. You would need "resale papers" to do that.

Will

 

Some counties and cities have sales tax too, on top of the state sales tax. Four states do not have any (Delaware, Montana, Oregon, New Hampshire). You can see a listing of state and local sales tax rates for the other 46 states and the District of Columbia here.

In addition to items for resale being tax-exempt, most vendors do not charge sales tax when they are shipping out of state, to other states where they do not have stores. So if I live in Illinois and I order stuff from a company in New York, they probably won't charge sales tax. But if I order stuff from Eddie Bauer (clothing merchant) in Seattle (Washington), they might charge sales tax because Eddie Bauer has stores in Illinois, too.

So, you might not even need the tax-exempt certificate to avoid sales tax, if the vendor is shipping out of the country. Best to check with the vendor, though.



[Modified by nsxtcjr, 4:29 PM 3/27/2002]

 

thanks everyone for your help

well...now i dont think either myself, nor my friend can claim victory in this debate

seeing as there is no 'set' nation wide GST (like in australia) - my case
and there definately is asles tax in more than two states of the US - friends case

either way...its been enlightening )

thanks