Correction.
Sales tax are always collected from merchants for the sale.
The merchants then decided to transfer the responsibility to the consumers by charging them the tax.
Speaking of which, what about those of us out of state customers going into these states to buy the items?
Beautiful sir. I love it when people actually understand these transactions.
That's why I always get upset when stores in my area have a "We pay the sales tax" event. Many American's have no clue that it has never been their obligation to pay the sales tax on any purchase.