On Wed, 13 Oct 1999 15:37:06 -0700, you, Daniel Kell

>A word to the wise. If you buy something while on a trip and want to
>avoid the sales tax you typically have to so proof of non-residence and
>have the dealer ship directly to an out-of-state or foreign address.
>Otherwise you get hit with sales tax.

To be exhaustive, one should note that when the goods arrive in our
places, France, Spain or elsewhere, the boys in the customs show no
sign of hesitation when applying custom rights, VAT and other taxes.

They will do so on the full cost, which means on goods that will have
paid taxes, as the bill shows, and also on the shipping costs.

Hence we pay taxes on taxes and also on services that have themselves
paid taxes.

This is what happened when I ordered a Bausch & Lomb 4-incher SCT from
Focus Camera in NYC some years ago: they charged local taxes (maybe 7
or 8 percent) to me allthough they exported to France, and I had to
pay 22.6 percent more to clear the telescope.

The best thing is to have american friends bring the thing to you
<smile>.

* Observatoire du Prieure, Gradignan, France
* 0° W / 45° N
* My home page is at: http://www.atlantic-line.fr/~soubie

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