>>>I had to pay taxes on top of that, I was stunnedm . it just does not make sense to me
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>Sales tax is very different in different states but a lot of retail is run and advertized by national chains, so they have to advertise and quote a pre-tax price and expect locals to know what it means. FWIW, Amazon prevailed over national bookstore chains by relying on interstate commerce to sell books without sales tax... and having won, now they are starting to add sales tax in many states. Cynics say it's to prevent anybody pulling the same stunt on Amazon. Do books attract sales tax in the Netherlands?

I was a very early adopter of Amazon but am thinking seriously of leaving them. Their prices are still hard to beat, no question about that. There has just been a firestorm of bad publicity lately about how they abuse their handful of customers, the major book chains. And Jeff Bezos is a pretty creepy guy the more you know about him. His idea of a win-win situation is where he wins twice. He doesn't just want to win, he wants to dance on the graves of your children. I like saving a buck as much as the next person but I also like being able to look at myself in the mirror.