Originally Posted by Daniel Browning
Where, of course, a favorite pastime is to drive across the Columbia River to Oregon (where I live), which has no sales tax. (Alas, we do have an income tax, though I usually don't have to pay any state income taxes, as about 92% of my military pension is not taxable by Oregon.) There's a big "outlet" mall south of Portland that does a bang-up business. The two times I've been there, it seemed that about half the cars had Washington plates.
I lived in California 1/87-5/94. I was legally a resident of Virginia and paid income taxes there, but I was subject to California's use tax for stuff I ordered from outside the state. In those days, it wasn't much, but, today, it could be considerable.
An RV dealer in my general area got into serious trouble a few years ago by helping buyers avoid paying taxes on RVs. The dealer would set up a PO box address for the buyer to use in registering the RV in Oregon, instead of California, say, which has a high annual tax on vehicles. The dealer got in trouble with Oregon and the Feds. No one went to jail, but the dealer did pay hefty fines and the RV owners had to pay back taxes plus interest and penalties.
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