Sometimes stores will structure sales that way ("we pay the sales tax" sales), so I expect you're right. The situation where it comes up is the idea of an Amer

Sometimes stores will structure sales that way ("we pay the sales tax" sales), so I expect you're right. The situation where it comes up is the idea of an American VAT. Because it applies the tax before the store even sees the good, the tax ends up baked into the price. And people like Grover Norquist have argued against a VAT specifically because of that: "The VAT is embedded inside the price of a good (as opposed to the U.S., where sales tax is transparent and on top of the price). As such, people forget they pay it, and European governments have found it too easy to raise the tax repeatedly over time." https://humanevents.com/2010/04/23/dont-give-obama-a-vat/ https://humanevents.com/2010/04/23/dont-give-obama-a-vat/