given the internet, we may eventually be buying via internet from outside the USA to avoid the confiscatory taxes.
You'll get hit with tariffs and they'll hold your merchandise until you pay. I ordered some things from the UK a year ago and was very careful to keep my total under the $200 threshold which seemed to be the amount over which you had to pay a tariff. The problem was the company didn't itemize the shipping form and the shipping and handling fee was added on to the value of the merchandise, and hence, I had to pay a tariff when I hadn't before. I complained to the company. I think they now have a notice on their website about this. The whole process made me very wary of buying things from overseas, as the tariff assessment seems to be rather random.
For those who want an NRST, this will justify government control over every Internet transaction.