Buying used from Canada

That tariff Canada applies on US dairy is designed to only kick in at an annual amount that has rarely been reached. It’s designed to prevent subsidized American dairy from flooding the Canadian market thus killing the Canadian dairy industry. No different than any other nation would do to protect it’s national interest.

One point many/all miss is the big picture. America wants safe, stable neighbors whom they can rely on an trust. Since the 1930’s America has recognized this and worked with Canada. We have both benefited. What’s happening now is Canada is being pushed into other market’s, which opens the door for other Countries influence and ideologies. That’s NOT good for America. There seems to be no "big picture" thinking in the current administration.

mswale

No idea when we started to collect sales tax on used good, but we are now doing it ...

In the US, used goods have been subject to sales tax for as long as I've been around.

It’s a surprise how much imported stuff will cost.  Try it and you will know for sure and can let us all know.  Willing to bet the price has not gone down as was promised. 
 

My daughter got a small very light package from China recently after paying $50+ for delivery.  Never saw anything like that before. 
 

There is no national sales tax. Any sales tax would be at the state level. Each state has or does not have its own sales tax. Each state will have various methods to capture their sales tax from any consumer transaction. It’s the sellers responsibility to collect the tax. There are no sales tax paid at customs. Forgetting the current chaotic business environment,  Customs employees have a tuff job figuring out what the tariff fee will be or not be on small transactions. Because of the volumes of incoming product and type, especially small packages coming in every day and every hour, they need to make quick decisions on the spot looking at docs while at the same time look out for illegal stuff.

It’s unreasonable to expect some human to know all the tariff codes and its derivatives to make the correct call each time.  You can only ask so much from a person.

Probably best to keep things simple and buy from where you are confident of the law, taxes, etc. This may require a change in habits, which is never comfortable.  

Change can be difficult, but with some forethought, some degree of inconvenience/ pain may be avoided.  
 

Hang in there.