Use Tax Information Page State and Local Sales Taxes Forty-six states impose sales taxes on purchases of tangible personal property. Some states also tax the sale of services.
Most people are familiar with sales taxes.
The use tax is a tax imposed by states to collect taxes on sales which do not take place in their state. The tax is meant to insure that all purchases are taxed, whether purchased locally or from out of state sellers. Contrary to some recent press reports, this is NOT a new tax. Collecting Use Taxes With a few exceptions, most states think that collecting their own use tax from their own residents is too hard. The reason that some out of state sellers collect use taxes is that they have some physical presence in your state, either an office, employees, or property.