Charging/not charging state sales tax

[poomshanka]

OK, this might technically be admissable as an on-topic issue for the "tuba" forum, but since it could be applied to the sale/purchase of any item, I figured we'd have a go at it here. And since we need a point of departure product-wise, tubas it is.

The question is how to get around state sales tax killing a retailer's market right in their own backyard. If someone's selling tubas, and has to charge the better part of $1K in state sales tax on a higher-end horn, how can they compete with an out-of-state retailer who can charge the same price, not collect state sales tax, and only hit customers for $100 or so in shipping charges?

What I'm curious about is not some creative way to "sell" the idea that it's better to spend an additional $1K as opposed to $100. Rather, is there some way to legally not have to charge state sales tax? Would it be a matter of incorporating in two different states, then selling to in-state customers through an out-of-state company? As I understand it, if a customer purchases an item from out-of-state and doesn't pay sales tax, that technically they're supposed to declare it in some fashion. This, of course, I'd imagine to be beyond the purview of a retailer to have to enforce.

As best I can tell, WWBW/Music123 (Indiana/New Jersey) is perhaps doing this very thing in some fashion.

Thanx for your thoughts...

...Dave

[Dan Schultz]

It's a good think you don't have to license tubas! Living in Southern Indiana, one of the misnomers is that you save the sales tax by purchasing an automobile in Kentucky. Guess what you have to cough up the sales tax when you register the 'bargain' in Indiana.

Also, the Indiana income tax form has a place on it to declare 'major purchases' that were made from out-of-state firms. Hmmmm... I wonder if I remembered to declare that tuba and refrigerator I bought last year

[windshieldbug]

It's a good think you don't have to license tubas! Living in Southern Indiana, one of the misnomers is that you save the sales tax by purchasing an automobile in Kentucky

Cain't put either one out on the front porch with the washer, neither!