RE: Local, City, County Sales Tax and Taxes

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[quote="TheFinnisher"]And you are only responsible of charging county (or Use Tax as Zap  called it) within your own county region.[/quote]You as a retailer are never responsible for collecting Use tax.  The difference between Use and Sales Tax is that Sales tax is collected by the retailer.  By definition, if you collect it, it is a sales tax, not a use tax. :)  Thus, you have a county sales tax and a state sales tax, collected by the retailer; likewise, you have a county use tax and a state use tax, collected by the state (in those cases where they did not already collect sales tax).  In both cases, the customer pays the tax and the state receives it.  Use tax just cuts out the middle step.

Use tax exists because there are situations where they would like to collect tax (and can legally do so) but where they cannot force the retailer to collect the tax.  The separate county issue is one case.  Another case is that where you do not do business in the state where your customer is.  The state/county can tax its residents but cannot compel an outside vendor to collect the tax for them.

As a practical matter, use taxes are rarely paid.  That is why the states would like federal legislation to enable them to force internet retailers to collect the tax for them.  It is far easier to force a retailer to collect a tax than it is to get individuals to pay it.  

--Matt