In a way, I am glad that on line vendors are charging sales tax. In Wisconsin, we are legally obligated to pay sales tax on all out of state purchases that we didn't pay sales in the state of purchase. Every March, I would spend the better part of a day tabulating all the previous year's purchases a figuring the tax liability for that year. That liability was added to our state income tax liability for the year. With a change in the rules, I only have to collect sale information for out of the country purchases now.
We didn't escape paying the taxes, only deferred them to the end of the year, and it made extra work for me. I like to keep our tax filings squeaky clean. The last thing that I want is a tax audit. Even worse, for the state or IRS to go back into past years and recalculate tax payment due with interest and penalties. It is also less painful to distribute the the sales tax liability over the year rather than getting hit with a lump sum in April.
Not that I like paying taxes. I particularly object to sales tax on used purchases. We paid the tax on the new item when first purchased and that should be the end of it. Unfortunately, the state will collect tax on any registered and licensed item when title transfers to a new owner. I would think that a value added tax as used in other countries would be a more fair way to raise revenue.