Olin Lathrop wrote:

> Gerhard Fiedler wrote:
>> I think this has at least also something to do with the way USA-style
>> sales tax works (as opposed to Europe-style VAT).
>=20
> It's actually not a USA thing, it's up to the individual states. =20

Are there any states that have a VAT? Is this even possible, or can
states only have a sales tax?

>> When you buy a part in the USA, you buy it as engineering part or as
>> a production part, and I don't think USA accounting systems have a
>> way to pass parts between the two.
>=20
> You can easily convert parts in inventory allocated to resale to
> internal use by paying the tax at any time.  Going the other way is
> more complicated.

The degree of hassle probably depends on the company, but in any case it
seems some degree of hassle is written into the way sales tax works.

> but there is no national sales tax or VAT in the US.

I didn't mean to imply that there is a national sales tax in the USA.
But the way the sales tax works is IME quite similar in all states where
they have sales tax -- and different from the principle of VAT (even
though there are similarities -- which are the reason the two can be
compared).

Gerhard
--=20
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