Sales tax and profit have nothing to do with each other. The entity collecting the sales tax doesn't care one whit if the entity paying it is profitable at all, they just want to be shown the money! Therefore, if the total remittance is $1000, and the seller makes 10% profit of the total sale, then a 3% sales tax does indeed eat $30 of his profit. I know of no one that stays in business that is foolish enough to base their profit on the total remittance and not on their cost. But wait for it, the spending sprees by the states are coming on the heels of this windfall. That way they don't have to reduce their spending to save taxpayers money, they can just claim they are doing sooooo much more for you! And the tax due on the sale is going to be based on the point of RECEIPT, not the point of SALE, so it's no longer technically a sales tax, it's now a user tax. Think about it, why would South Dakota sue to have it based on the point of sale. That state is not exactly the hotbed of internet sales activity as far as I know. Hopefully this will show people just how much government at all levels is really costing them, because now no one can escape it.