That's not quite true and/or not a difference from countries with VAT: 1. Dealers (who are buying cars for resale) do not pay sales tax on cars. When you sell

That's not quite true and/or not a difference from countries with VAT: 1. Dealers (who are buying cars for resale) do not pay sales tax on cars. When you sell a used car to a dealer, the dealer doesn't pay sales tax on it. When you sell a used car to an auto recycler / scrapyard, they don't pay sales tax. If you know of any states that are exceptions, I'd love to learn what those are. 2. A quick Google search (by no means comprehensive, so I could be wrong) suggests that most countries with VAT also charge a land transfer tax.