02-23-2018, 06:12 PM
GET on retail sales is 4% (surcharge aside), but on levels before that it's 0.25%. Nothing is going to go through more than three levels in Hawaii where GET would be paid (and the amount it's paid on at the wholesale level is lower as well), so the effective rate is still less than 5% of the final price. Most states' sales taxes are at least 5%.
Compare that to, for example, Ireland, which has a value-added tax (similar to GET) of 23% at every transaction level, but deductible for what each pays to the previous level, so that if there are three levels of transactions the effective rate paid at each step is 7.67%.
Compare that to, for example, Ireland, which has a value-added tax (similar to GET) of 23% at every transaction level, but deductible for what each pays to the previous level, so that if there are three levels of transactions the effective rate paid at each step is 7.67%.