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US / Canada Taxes on PC components

I'm from the EU and I've always been confused by the US tax system (much like a lot of Americans I guess) and I presume Canada has a similar system? What I wonder about is, do the prices listed in stores include taxes? As far as I know, they don't, but do you pay that tax when you do your taxes? Are PC components even taxed and if so how much? In the EU all items sold to consumers (i.e. not businesses) have to include a tax internationally called VAT which depends on the EU country, but is usually around 20-22 % (stuff like food has a much lower tax rate). So, like Linus often says, US and EU prices often end up pretty much the same i.e. 300 USD and 300 EUR, since currently the euro is worth 19 % more, which is pretty much the same as the tax rate.

 

To sum up: Is Europe really getting fucked on tech prices that hard or does that only appear to be the case at first glance?

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In most larger retail cases they collect the tax at checkout after you enter your shipping information. When buying online from a retailer that doesn't collect tax you're supposed to report those purchases when you do your taxes and pay it then based on what the sales tax rate is in your state. Since it's honor based you can imagine almost nobody does this and that's part of why things got a lot of push from various states a few years ago to get taxes collected from the big e-tailers and whatnot since they would say "we don't have a presence in your state so we don't have to collect taxes".

 

Sales tax rates, in the US, vary by state and some don't even have a sales tax so it can get messy at times.

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In Canada and I am fairly the US as well the product prices listed online usually do not include the taxes. One of the reasons for that is the tax rate varies depending which province or state you live in.

 

As a Canadian when I purchase products from the US if they fall under the de minimis level then I do not pay any duties and only pay taxes applicable in my jurisdiction. For items that go over the de minimis level I may have to pay duties though some items are exempt under the new NAFTA agreement.

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For Canada:

Prices do not include tax, you pay tax on the items when you purchase them. It's added at checkout. Tax rates vary by province.

For your example, you not only have to factor in VAT, but also duty which may be hidden when you purchase it, as it's been paid by the importer. Thus, you'll end up with a higher price than you see elsewhere.

 

It largely comes down to governments and their tariffs. Not so much Europe "getting fucked" just because of where you're located.

 

Just now, Loki0111 said:

In Canada and I am fairly the US as well the product prices listed online usually do not include the taxes. One of the reasons for that is the tax rate varies depending which province or state you live in.

 

As a Canadian when I purchase products from the US if they fall under the de minimis level then I do not pay any duties and only pay taxes applicable in my jurisdiction. For items that go over the de minimis level I may have to pay duties though some items are exempt under the new NAFTA agreement.

Worth noting most PC parts don't have duty on them, regardless of the NAFTA agreement. NAFTA also wouldn't really apply to most.

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For USA, prices do not include tax. Some places have taxes higher than your VAT, or in my case no sale tax at all.

I'm not actually trying to be as grumpy as it seems.

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