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I had never really thought about that, but most countries have some form of federal VAT, so you pay your first taxes when you buy your first ice cream, but Amer

I had never really thought about that, but most countries have some form of federal VAT, so you pay your first taxes when you buy your first ice cream, but American kids don't pay federal taxes until they have a job, which is way less fun than eating an ice cream. Maybe that's why Americans hate federal taxes so much.

rogerbinns 14y ago
The US doesn't have a federal VAT style tax although there may be some shenanigans with imports. However most (but not all) states have sales taxes. Its actually worse than that - depending on where a sale happens it can be a combination of state, county and city taxes! For example in California here are the rates for purchases made in cities beginning with H (randomly picked letter) http://www.boe.ca.gov/cgi-bin/rates.cgi?LETTER=H&LIST=CITY http://www.boe.ca.gov/cgi-bin/rates.cgi?LETTER=H&LIST=CI... As is usual in the land of the free, there is corporate welfare going on and car purchases are taxed based on where the consumer lives not where the purchase is made as for all other purchases. Here is the California sales tax FAQ http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/faqpurch.htm http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/faqpurch.htm - note how section 8 says barter is covered so possibly a kid swapping stuff may be covered. Here is the list of exemptions (PDF) http://www.boe.ca.gov/pdf/pub61.pdf http://www.boe.ca.gov/pdf/pub61.pdf but that is only at a California level (my city charges a tax for utility usage of phone, gas and electricity). I'm a foreigner living in the US and cheating on taxes seems very pervasive here. I don't know anyone who reported their Amazon purchases even though they needed to. The resentment mainly seems to be because they think others are doing a better job at finding loopholes and undetected cheats, with consequent resentment being a "sucker" for paying more as a consequence.

rogerbinns 14y ago

The US doesn't have a federal VAT style tax although there may be some shenanigans with imports. However most (but not all) states have sales taxes. Its actually worse than that - depending on where a sale happens it can be a combination of state, county and city taxes! For example in California here are the rates for purchases made in cities beginning with H (randomly picked letter) http://www.boe.ca.gov/cgi-bin/rates.cgi?LETTER=H&LIST=CITY http://www.boe.ca.gov/cgi-bin/rates.cgi?LETTER=H&LIST=CI... As is usual in the land of the free, there is corporate welfare going on and car purchases are taxed based on where the consumer lives not where the purchase is made as for all other purchases. Here is the California sales tax FAQ http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/faqpurch.htm http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/faqpurch.htm - note how section 8 says barter is covered so possibly a kid swapping stuff may be covered. Here is the list of exemptions (PDF) http://www.boe.ca.gov/pdf/pub61.pdf http://www.boe.ca.gov/pdf/pub61.pdf but that is only at a California level (my city charges a tax for utility usage of phone, gas and electricity). I'm a foreigner living in the US and cheating on taxes seems very pervasive here. I don't know anyone who reported their Amazon purchases even though they needed to. The resentment mainly seems to be because they think others are doing a better job at finding loopholes and undetected cheats, with consequent resentment being a "sucker" for paying more as a consequence.