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Tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services

A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a governing body directly by a consumer, it is usually called a use tax. Often laws provide for the exemption of certain goods or services from sales and use tax, such as food, education, and medicines. A value added tax (VAT) collected on goods and services is related to a sales tax. See Comparison with sales tax for key differences.

Sales tax on online purchasers operates in a different manner. Generally, there are four types of electronic commerce: intermediaries, retail, business to business and media, all of which are affected by consumer response to sales tax. However, while consumers are technically supposed to pay a sales tax when it comes to cross state border transactions, the practicality of enforcing it is impossible. As a result, online retail stores have had a distinct advantage in that they do not have to charge a sales tax. That has led many economists to examine consumer sensitivity when it comes to sales taxes. While some researchers have concluded a high elasticity of online purchase probability with respect to sales tax at around 2.3, but others have found smaller figures of around 0.5. That means that enforcing an online sales tax would have negligible effects on aggregate sales.

Economists at the Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development studied the effects of various types of taxes on the economic growth of developed nations within the OECD and found that sales taxes are one of the least harmful taxes for growth. Because the rate of a sales tax does not change based on a person's income or wealth, sales taxes are generally considered regressive. However, it has been suggested that any regressive effect of a sales tax could be mitigated, e. g., by excluding rent, or by exempting "necessary" items, such as food, clothing and medicines. Investopedia defines a regressive tax as "[a] tax that takes a larger percentage from low income people than from high income people. A regressive tax is generally a tax that is applied uniformly. This means that it hits lower income individuals harder".

Higher sales taxes have been shown to have many different effects on local economies. With higher taxes, more consumers are starting to reconsider where they shop, according to a study conducted in Minnesota and Wisconsin, where the sales tax was raised on cigarettes. Effects of higher sales tax were not shown immediately in sales, but about six months after the taxes were raised. Studies that have shown this correlation were conducted in Georgia by cities raising sales tax and lowering property taxes. To combat sales loss, a city must be able to import consumers to buy goods locally. Enforcement of the tax on remote sales, however, is difficult. Unless the vendor has a physical location, or nexus, within a state, the vendor cannot be required to collect tax for that state. This limitation was defined as part of the Dormant Commerce Clause by the Supreme Court in the 1967 decision on National Bellas Hess v. Illinois. An attempt to require a Delaware e commerce vendor to collect North Dakota tax was overturned by the court in the 1992 decision on Quill Corp. v. North Dakota. 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. In a report issued in 2003, the Congressional Budget Office warned of the economic burden of a "multiplicity of tax systems, particularly for smaller firms". This agreement establishes standards necessary for simplified and uniform sales tax laws. As of December 2010, 24 states had passed legislation conforming with the agreement. Whether the Streamlined Sales Tax can actually be applied to remote sales ultimately depends upon Congressional support, because the 1992 Quill v. North Dakota decision determined that only the U. S. Congress has the authority to enact interstate taxes.

Electronic commerce business can also be affected by consumption taxes. It can be separated into four categories: retail, intermediaries, business to business and media (Goldfarb 2008). These categories were affected varying degrees. The intermediaries were affected by the retail sales tax since it provides platforms for transitions between different parties (such as the Amazon marketplace). Business to Business transactions will be placed in different circumstances by whether the case will be taxed in the US. Electronic commerce goods are usually not taxed the same especially across the stats in the US. Different states have their own sales tax regulations, for example, some states use their standard sales taxes law for the digital goods, and some of the states have specific laws for them. It is difficult to enforce the taxes on electronic commerce especially for digital goods that trade across different countries. The effect that a sales tax has on consumer and producer behavior is rather large. The price elasticity of demand for online products is high, meaning that consumers are price sensitive and their demand will significantly change with small changes in price. This means that the tax burden lies primarily with the producer. To avoid altering demand, the producer will either avoid the tax if possible by relocating their fulfillment centers to areas without a high sales tax or they will internalize the cost of the sales tax by charging consumers the same price but paying for the tax from their profits.

A tax imposed on the sale of goods is depicted on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs, which have been dated as far back as 2000 BC. These paintings describe the collection of tax for specific commodities, such as cooking oil. Sales tax amounts, measured in drachmas at a rate of one percent, were recorded in a separate column of a record prepared for the auction of 16 slaves in Piraeus, Greece in 415 BC. Nearby Athens collected duties on the import and export of commodities, recorded at a rate of two percent in 399 BC. At that period of time, Athens did not rely on government agencies to collect its taxes; the responsibility was delegated to the highest bidder, a practice known as tax farming. The Roman emperor Augustus collected funds for his military aerarium in AD 6 with a one percent general sales tax, known as the centesima rerum venalium (hundredth of the value of everything sold). The Roman sales tax was later reduced to a half percent (ducentesima) by Tiberius, then abolished completely by Caligula.

Although the United States government has never used a general sales tax, an excise tax on whiskey enacted in 1791 was one of its first fund raising efforts. The unpopularity of this tax with farmers on the western frontier led to the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. Federal and state sales taxes in the United States remained selective, rather than general, through the 19th century. However, excise taxes were applied to so many specific commodities during the Civil War that they functioned collectively as a general sales tax.

Canada uses a value added federal Goods and Services Tax with a rate of 5 percent, effective since January 1, 2008. 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.

Businesses can reduce the impact of sales tax for themselves and their customers by planning for the tax consequences of all activities. Sales tax reduction or mitigation strategies can include the following:
Designing invoices to reduce the taxable portion of a sale transaction. In Maryland, for example, a delivery charge is exempt if it is stated separately from handling and other taxable charges. New facilities. Jurisdictions with no sales tax or broad exemptions for certain types of business operations would be an obvious consideration in selecting a site for a new manufacturing plant, warehouse, or administrative office. Delivery location. For a business operating in several jurisdictions, choosing the best location in which to take delivery can reduce or eliminate the sales tax liability. That is particularly important for an item to be sold or used in another jurisdiction with a lower tax rate or an exemption for that item. Businesses should consider whether a temporary storage exemption applies to merchandise initially accepted in a jurisdiction with a higher tax rate. Periodic review of record keeping procedures related to sales and use tax. Proper supporting detail, including exemption and resale certificates, invoices and other records must be available to defend the company in the event of a sales and use tax audit. Without proper documentation, a seller may be held liable for tax not collected from a buyer.