Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
This is a curious anomaly. An eBook is something that has value, whether it's "tangible" or not, so surely it should be taxed. Are music downloads similarly exempt from tax?
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It varies - a lot - by state, and changes over time. In California, for instance, food is not taxable, but attempts have been made to tax junk food. This led to a curious situation where a single package of, say, Hostess chocolate covered donuts was taxable but a box of the same packages wasn't. At one point, the Board of Equalization couldn't tell what was and wasn't taxable.
This is why the Surpeme Court has ruled (many, many years ago) that out of state businesses cannot be forced to act as tax collectors for the state. It's impossible to track it all, as there are literally thousands of tax distircts in the US, and many of them have variable and contradictory classifications for different kinds of goods and services.