The other day I’ve noticed an almost perverted development here in the US. We pay state sales taxes(vergleichbar mit der Mehrwertsteuer, aber ans Land, nicht an den Bund), but for Internet orders from out of state businesses, this tax is currently waived. In Texas the sales tax is 8.25% and the saved tax many times off sets the cost for shipping and handling. Last year I found the best prices for some computer components I needed at an online retailer. So I ordered the parts, only to find out at check-out time, that the retailer was actually located in Texas and therefore had to charge the required sales tax for the online order.

When shopping around for a camcorder this week, the same retailer had by far the best price on my selected model – even with the sales tax added. But this time I got a pleasant surprise at check-out: the goods were shipped without sales tax, since they were now coming from a warehouse in Chicago, operated by a subsidy of the retailer. So they’ve figured out a way to avoid the sales tax, by shipping the product half across the continent instead. Shipping was free, too. Makes you wonder what’s wrong with this. The parts are rolling on a truck across the country, instead of being shipped from a 150mile away ware house, last year. The result of the tax rules are not environmentally friendly, but I’m sure operating this way, the retailer is generating more business this way. This feels wrong.