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Sales taxes in the United States
| Taxation in the United States |
|---|
 This article is part of a series on |
| Federal taxation |
| Authority · History Internal Revenue Service Court • Forms • Code • Revenue Taxpayer standing |
| Income tax · Payroll tax Alternative Minimum Tax Estate tax · Excise tax · Gift tax Corporate tax · Capital gains tax |
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| State income tax · State tax levels Sales tax · Use tax · Property tax |
Federal tax reform |
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| Tax protester arguments: Constitutional · 16th Amendment Statutory · Conspiracy |
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Sales taxes in the United States are a tax added onto the price of goods or services that are purchased in the United States. A sales tax is a tax on consumption, which is displayed as a percentage of the sale price. Sales taxes are assessed by every state except Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon. Hawaii has a similar tax although it is charged to businesses instead of consumers. In some cases, sales taxes are also assessed at the county or municipal level.
The sales tax is the responsibility of the merchant to collect and remand to the state, and stated separately (or implicitly added at the time of sale) to consumers. Usually only consumers are charged the tax; resellers are exempt if they do not make use of the goods. In some jurisdictions, a reseller's certificate is required to make use of this privilege. This is in contrast to a Value Added Tax (VAT), where resellers are also taxed (resellers may then claim the VAT paid on their purchases from the applicable authority). States which have exemptions for specific types of organizations (such as schools), may also require a certificate. A sales tax audit is the examination of a company’s financial documents by the state’s tax agency to verify if they have collected the correct amount of sales tax from their customers.
The Constitution of the United States limits the power of the states to subjects within their jurisdiction. Jurisdiction over interstate commerce is reserved to the federal government. Nevertheless, a resident of a state with a sales tax who purchases goods from a place with no sales tax (or at a lower rate) might be subject to pay a "use tax" (often at the same rate as the state sales tax) for non-exempt purchases (see also tax-free shopping). While there is no national sales tax in the United States, the Fair Tax Act, which would replace federal income taxes with a sales tax and monthly rebate, has attracted interest in the United States Congress and the 2008 presidential campaign.
