Charging sales tax on Internet purchases can be a messy, nebulous issue. Case in point: You can buy the latest Stieg Larsson novel on Amazon.com without paying any tax. But order the same book from Barnes & Noble’s website, and you'll still pay the 9.5 percent tax you would have paid at a store location in San Francisco, because any company with brick-and-mortar operations in California must collect sales tax online.
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