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Why do foreigners still have to pay sales tax (in the US) when they are only visitors? (piefed.social)

submitted 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) by SilentStriker@piefed.social to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

13 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I mean, there are countries where tourists don’t have to pay tax on top of items (meaning they pay for it tax free given if they presented their passport upon purchase proving they’re merely only a visitor, that won’t work on expats though). There are countries who have tax refunds when visitors are leaving (basically reclaiming VAT whilst at the airport), they have already purchased the goods with VAT paid but gets refunded upon them departing.

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[–] Skyrmir@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

The tax is meant to be on the business selling the product, not the person buying it. There are added rules requiring the tax to be added on after the sale price so that it remains a visible tax, thus making the public more likely to support repealing it.

[–] adarza@piefed.ca 5 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

'sales tax' is collected and remitted to the state by merchants, but paid by the customer.

[–] Skyrmir@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago

The entire revenue is paid by the customer. Sales tax is itemized out. It's been intentionally pushed towards the consumer as to prevent it being known as a business tax.