Quote:
Originally Posted by John F
Isn't traveling to other countries and having to "declare" what you buy considered voluntarily?
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Yep, and how many people walk through the "green" customs channel rather than declaring their purchases? Doesn't make it legal to do so.
There is, though, a difference between that and the sales tax/use tax situation. Unless you're going to have mandatory searches of everyone's luggage as they enter a country, the current system of relying on voluntary declaration backed up by random searches is probably the only practical way to do it. The US system of relying on voluntary payment of use tax, on the other hand, could easily be changed to a system whereby all retailers charge sales tax for online purchases, instead of the current rather odd system of only charging sales tax if the retailer has a physical presence in a state.