As far as I know, every Provincial Sales Tax (Canada) is a tax to the consumer, NOT the business. And the GST, the federal tax, applies at every stage of commerce, from manufacturer all the way through to the consumer. However, it is a tax on the buyer side, not the seller side and is always applied at the selling price, with the difference being remitted by the current seller to the government). This is directly against the first point Bitt made in the original post.

I would be surprised if it isn't the same in the US.

In fact, merchants *are* licenced tax collectors up here for both Provincial and Federal "Sales" taxes. The tax must be collected regardless of how it is rolled into the final bill. Generally everything in Ontario is priced Tax-out. This means you get the 15% added at the end of your bill. There are a couple of provinces experimenting with Tax-In pricing (which is common in Europe - In Portugal for instance, when I see a sticker price, that's exactly how much I'm going to pay - at least it was when I was last there in 1998).

Bruno