Re:State sales taxes are exempt (Score 1)

The rules in Canada are a bit wonky.

In most provinces, we have two sales taxes: provincial sales tax (8% in Ontario), and the GST (7%)<arrogant-worms>Screw it!</arrogant-worms>.

When doing mail-order from another province, they always charge the GST. If the company has any business presence in your home province, then they have to charge PST too. However, if they don't, then you get away without paying the PST.

For example, I can order DVDs from http://www.thecnl.com/ or computer parts from http://www.ncix.com/ in BC, and I never pay PST (which almost makes up for the shipping costs). However, if I order clothing or equipment from http://www.mec.ca/, I have to pay the PST, even though MEC is based in BC and everything ships from Vancouver. They have stores in Ontario, so they have to collect the PST for anything sold here.

Of course, some provinces have the HST (harmonized sales tax), which combines their PST and GST into one big tax. I think they always get stuck paying it for anything that they buy.

The best part about the GST is that we have the privilege of paying it on anything ordered from the USA too.