Quote:
Originally Posted by medgirl2001
I don't think this would explain the magnitude of the discrepancy you're talking about, but one difference could be tax. In the UK and European Kindle stores, for example, the VAT is included in the listed purchase price. In the U.S., it is not. For my state, it is added on at the end. (I am not sure if all U.S. states have to pay tax on Kindle books.)
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Some do, some don't. And although that will change in detail if the House passes the Marketplace Fairness Act it won't change at the macro level. The current law allows states to charge sales tax if both buyer & seller have a physical 'presence' in the state-even if the sale takes place over the Internet. The new act allows states to charge sales tax regardless of where the seller is located. Note that this doesn't actually change sales tax law-all it changes is the responsibility for sending the tax to the state. Most states that charge sales tax have a 'use tax' requirement that assesses sales tax to out-of-state purchases (where delivery is in-state) but make it the responsibility of the buyer to remit the tax. Voluntarily. Right. The new law makes it the responsibility of the seller to collect & remit the tax. I'm not sure how that'll work out for truly small businesses but it certainly won't affect buyers in those states that don't charge a sales tax anyway.