Sounds like a recipe for confusion and a real interesting time for the auditors and tax collectors that will be trying to enforce this equitably.
I’m not thinking about the $3 bottle of detergent cited in the article, but more expensive items like used cars in which the prices are a lot more flexible, how do you verify what the “original” price of the 2008 Lexus that was sold and whose price changed several times before the final sale of it.
Sounds like a accounting mess, and something that is likely to change sales practices in the vehicle, appliance, airline tickets and other higher ticket items.
Sure it is, and that's the beauty of it. The tax is collected at the point of sale, by the merchant, so it's (nearly) pure profit, cheap to implement on the gov't side. Any "confusion" on how much tax is owed will be settled by fining the merchant for the amount they fail to "collect".