> At 1:53 PM -0700 7/8/04, Jordan Hayes wrote:
>
>> > You say the merchant remits the sales tax to the
>>> government. How can you interpret this as other than
>>> the merchant paying sales tax?
>>
>> You can do it by going to a place where there are sales taxes and no
>> sales taxes in close geographic proximity and then comparing retail
>> prices: I assure you, the consumer is paying the tax. Try Portland
>> Oregon, for instance.
>
> Perhaps you would care to elaborate? If there are two shops selling
> the same item in near proximity and one charges higher prices (because
> of sales tax) then, all things being equal, why would customers not
> simply take their business to the shop with the lower prices?
That's what they do. In Arkansas, they drive over the state line to Oklahoma to buy cars without paying sales tax--or did, till the sales tax was capped at a $2500 purchase, so the rich and poor alike paid about the same sales tax on a car, whether a ten-year-old work transport or a nice new Hummer.
All the best,
John A