RE: interesting sales tax question

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http://forums.oscommerce.com/viewtopic.php?p=162491#162491
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Hey... I'm not trying to be difficult with this, or to dispute your experience.  I'm not the one at the company who has a big problem with this - I'm just the webdesigner.

I have read much of our local tax ordinances, and what you are saying just doesn't add up with what I'm reading.  Also, when I suggest to the business guys that they get some legal counsel on this, they say the already have, have been through all of this before, and this is how it stands...

1)  If we charge everybody in the state the same tax rate, it's against the law.

2)  If we don't list the State and/or City tax as [i]seperate line items[/i] at checkout, it's against the law.

3) If we don't charge tax and just remit it from the total price, it's against the law.  If we take tax, then we MUST inform the customer that they are paying tax at checkout.  This solution was tried on a previous shopping cart, and we were informed to stop doing it.

I understand and respect your experience as a food vendor.  But we are an independant record label that sells a lot of products internationally.  We also have a high visiblity with the local government because of online copyright and publishing issues in the music business.  We can't skirt around with this and make it "kinda" work like most local "mom 'n pop" stores could get away with.

So I'm simply trying to find the proper solution, and making sure that the others on this forum are educated to the issues as well.

Thanks.