2 ms·

You could say the same about a state or municipality not having a sales tax: it has has an effect on interstate commerce, ergo the federal government is allowed

• gamblor956 7y ago
  You're misinterpreting it. A sales tax is a purely local tax--an item must be purchased in person so the transaction is always local. A use tax is a interstate tax, and applies where the good is purchased in one state but brought into another. For online sales, where the purchase is treated as occurring in the location of the buyer, it is technically a "use" tax that applies (because the item is sold in one state but actually shipped to another state), which is why the federal government can theoretically pass a national "sales" tax law for internet commerce and why states can't impose a sales tax on items sold online directly to out-of-state customers. Yes, it's complicated, especially since most sales and use tax laws generally use the term "sales" tax to refer to what is actually a "use" tax.