Harold Hallikainen wrote:

> The other more interesting (to me) issue is that one who pays taxes is to
> benefit from those taxes. If someone in New York were to pay a
> California sales tax, they would not benefit from that tax, since the
> tax is for the benefit of the residents of California. 

The question about who benefits from a sales tax is not so easy to answer.
In a sense both seller and buyer benefit from it, so it wouldn't be
unreasonable (in the light of this argument) that the seller pays the tax,
wherever he/she/it does business. 

(On a side note: That's how VAT in many European countries works, without
the complications of sales tax.)

The fact that the buyer pays it is just an arbitrary convention; it could
just as well be the seller. And so any arguments derived from this
convention are just as arbitrary.

Gerhard

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