Sales tax

A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services.

Countries or subunits often also impose wealth taxes, inheritance taxes, estate taxes, gift taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, payroll taxes or tariffs.

When a tax on goods or services is paid to a governing body directly by a consumer, it is usually called a use tax.

It is essentially the same as a sales tax but is applied not where a product or service was sold but where a merchant bought a product or service and then converted it for its own use, without having paid tax when it was initially purchased.

For example, sales tax in Chicago (Cook County), IL is 10.25%, consisting of 6.25% state, 1.25% city, 1.75% county and 1% regional transportation authority.

In March 2008, the County Board increased the sales tax by one percent to 1.75 percent.

A value-added tax (VAT) collected on goods and services is similar to a sales tax.

However, a VAT is collected by the end retailer and is usually a flat tax, and is therefore frequently compared to a sales tax.

A gross receipts tax is similar to a sales tax, but it is levied on the seller of goods or service consumers.

An indirect tax (such as sales tax, per unit tax, value added tax (VAT), or goods and services tax (GST ), excise, tariff) is a tax collected by an intermediary (such as a retail store) from the person who bears the ultimate economic burden of the tax (such as the consumer).

In an effort to reduce the burden of compliance with the tax laws of multiple jurisdictions, the Streamlined Sales Tax Project was organized in March 2000.

The Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP), first organized in March 2000, is intended to simplify and modernize sales and use tax collection and administration in the United States.

Sales tax occurs when merchandise has been sold.

For Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the tax is 9.45%, which is 4.45% state & 5% local.

The sales tax rate is 4%: a 3.97% Louisiana sales tax and a .03% Louisiana Tourism Promotion District sales tax.

The fourth plank of the plan called for repeal of the state's sales tax and imposition of "a tax on stock transfers at the rate of 4 cents per share."

Consumption taxes are usually indirect, such as a sales tax or a value-added tax.

The Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998 established a commission to study the possibility of internet taxation, but the commission did not make any formal recommendations.

If a seller does have a physical presence in a state, then that seller may be required to collect the same state and local sales tax es as those collected on non-Internet sales.

The tax was introduced by the Howard Government and commenced on 1 July 2000, replacing the previous federal wholesale sales tax system and designed to phase out a number of various State and Territory Government taxes, duties and levies such as banking taxes and stamp duty.

Sales tax is governed at the state level and no national general sales tax exists.

Every province in Canada except Alberta has either a Provincial Sales Tax (PST) or the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), which is a single, blended combination of the GST and PST.

Because the rate of a sales tax does not change based on a person's income or wealth, sales taxes are generally considered regressive.

Maryland's state sales tax is 6 percent.

A sales tax audit is the examination of a company’s financial documents by a government's tax agency to verify if the proper amount of sales tax has been remitted to the proper authority.

Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase.

Often laws provide for the exemption of certain goods or services from sales and use tax.

Conventional or retail sales tax is levied on the sale of a good to its final end user and is charged every time that item is sold retail.

A purchaser who is not an end user is usually issued a "resale certificate" by the taxing authority and required to provide the certificate (or its ID number) to a seller at the point of purchase, along with a statement that the item is for resale.

Countries in Western Europe, especially in Scandinavia, have some of the world's highest valued-added taxes.

Countries in Western Europe, especially in Scandinavia, have some of the world's highest valued-added taxes.