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No, I'm not an idiot. Sales tax is something that is very easy to calculate in every jurisdiction, since it's a fixed amount of the total price of the product at the taxation level for that particular product. Profits, on the other hand, are subject to a lot of creative bookkeeping.

Amazon does in fact have a presence in every state. It's no longer required to be a physical warehouse - plenty of states now are saying if you do business here, you owe sales tax here.

Today, some states, such as New York, assert that some types of virtual presence through the Internet can be enough to create nexus. Also, many states assert that the presence of intellectual property such as a trademark creates nexus for income tax. Some of the newer state tax regimes, such as those in Ohio and Michigan, even disregard any requirement for in-state presence but instead focus on activities targeted at customers in the state.

There are less than 9,000 different tax jurisdictions in the US. Certainly Amazon and Google can figure them out. They just don't want to because they don't want to have to charge sale and use taxes.

WRT sales tax, here you go:

However, just because a company lacks a permanent establishment doesn’t mean there are no U.S. or state filing responsibilities. Activities in the U.S. that do not create a permanent establishment may still obligate a company to file a U.S. federal income tax return. In addition, since not all states follow the treaty, some states may subject a company to state income tax even if it doesn’t have a permanent establishment. Plus, treaty protection does not extend to non-income taxes, such as sales taxes.

States use a concept called "nexus" to determine the minimum contact necessary for the state to impose its various taxes on an out-of-state company. Different state taxes can have differing nexus standards. Recently, many states have followed a trend to lower the nexus bar.

An actual in-state physical presence created with inventory or other property as well as by employees, independent agents, representatives or contractors, has been traditionally required for state sales tax nexus. Today, some states, such as New York, assert that some types of virtual presence through the Internet can be enough to create nexus. Also, many states assert that the presence of intellectual property such as a trademark creates nexus for income tax. Some of the newer state tax regimes, such as those in Ohio and Michigan, even disregard any requirement for in-state presence but instead focus on activities targeted at customers in the state.

State sales-and-use tax compliance can be more difficult and expensive than income taxes given that there are over 8,000 taxing jurisdictions involved. Once an out-of-state company satisfies the nexus standard for sales and use tax, the burden of collecting taxes on purchasers of taxable goods and services begins. If a company fails to collect from its customers, it effectively converts a customer's tax into its own liability.

http://www.kpmg.ca/en/services/tax/tnf/tnfc0723.ht ml

Canada's Federal and Provincial R&D Programs -- 2007 Round-Up

British Columbia
B.C.'s 2007 budget included the following changes regarding the province's R&D tax credit:

                  General extension of the B.C. R&D tax credit -- The B.C. R&D tax credit will be available for an extra five years until September 1, 2014 (extended from September 1, 2009).

                  Partnerships -- The B.C. R&D tax credit will be available to partnerships for eligible R&D expenditures incurred after February 20, 2007.

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Like everything else in British Columbia, Aboriginal Canadians are subsidizing through their land and most importantly $$$ from resources on their land.

From this we have a 16% Canadian Federal tax on the first CA$35,596, and 22% on the rest to $71,190. So, for CA$37,500, that's CA$5695.36 plus 22% of CA$1904 or CA$418.88 for a total of CA$6114.24. Now, lets take into account the non-refundable tax credits. For a single person, that would be 16% of CA$8,012 or CA$1,281.92. If you're married to a non-working spouse, you get an additional 16% of CA$6,083 or CA$973.28 for a total of CA$2,255.20. Thus, the Canadian Federal tax burden for a single person earning CA$37,500 is CA$4,832.32. For a married person, with a non-working spouse, it's CA$3,859.04.

The Ontario tax is computed similarly. From this, we see that the Ontario tax is 6.05% on the first CA$34,009 and 9.15% on CA$34,010 to CA$68,020. For someone earning CA$37,500 that's $2057.54 plus 9.15% of CA$3,491 or CA$319.43 for a total Ontario tax of CA$2376.97. There is no surtax at this level (20% additional tax on the tax over $CA$3,939, and an additional 16% tax on the tax over CA$4957). The Ontario non-refundable tax credits are 6.05% on $CA8,044 for singles, and an additional 6.05% on $CA6,830 for a credit of CA$522.86 for singles and CA$936.08 for marrieds supporting a non-working spouse. So the Ontario tax for a single earning CA$37,500 is CA$1,854.11, and for a married supporting a non-working spouse is CA$1,440.89.

Now, Ontario has a health insurance premium. For someone earning CA$37,500, it's CA$390.

There is a Federal Canada Pension Plan, requiring contributions of 4.7% of income to CA$37,400, with the first CA$3,500 exempted. So 4.7% of CA$33,900 is CA$1593.30.

There is a Federal Employment Insurance premium requiring 1.95% of income to a maximum of premium of CA$760.50 Someone earning CA$37,500 would pay EI of CA$731.25.

So, total Federal tax, Ontario tax, Ontario health premium, Federal Canada Pension Plan, and Federal Employment Insurance for a single total CA$9,400.98. If you're married, supporting a non-working spouse, it's CA$8,014.48.

If you had no other bona-fide deductions and only paid CA$4,000 in Federal and Ontario taxes including CPP, EI, and Ontario HPP, you underpaid by some CA$5,400.

I suspect your CA$4k figure comes from only considering Federal tax.

Add in the "federal surtax" and the "federal high income surtax", and remember that you pay provincial income taxes on both of those taxes. There are also provincial surtaxes for people deemed "rich".

There are also tax deductions in the US. I don't think Canadians can deduct the interest on their mortgages! And 401(k)s can get employer matching contributions, tax-free to the employee. RRSPs can't. (And your 401(k) assets can be invested anywhere on the plnaet. 80% of your RRSP assets have to be invested in the Canadian markets, which have historically underperformed US markets.)

Finally, with the Canadian dollar at about two-thirds of the American dollar, that "maximum income tax" bracket is reached at about $40,000 US. That's right, you're considered "really disgustingly filthy rich so you can have the hell taxed out of you" in Canada at the whopping sum of $US 40K. Sheesh.

In fairness to the original poster, the standard of living is probably comparable on both sides of the border - the cost of living is much lower in Canada, you don't need private school if you've got kids, and your (and your kids') medical coverage is "free" (in that you've paid for it with the taxes). That's a big equalizer.

But to say that the maximum tax rate in BC is 43% is just nuts. You want low (relative to Canada) taxes, try Alberta or Ontario. You'll roughly match California's tax structure -- but if we're talking about MSFT employees, WA has *no* state income tax, IIRC. On the income tax side, no jurisdiction in Canada comes close to that.

There's a whole lotta Canadian tax calculators at the Canadian sites for KPMG and Ernst & Young.

This kind of busses was used in Copenhagen for some years. For some reason they stopped buying this kind of busses. I think they started using gas powered bussus instead. Sadly the gas powered busses had a bad habit of catching fire, so maybe switching was a bad choice. I don't know what they use now.

Further reading on fly wheel engines: Danish experimentarium, Canadian traffic something and last but not the least Google search