Commercial Tax at a Glance

There are several forms of commercial taxes, including those placed on commercial items as a sales tax and those placed on commercial items during the manufacturing process. Each time a manufactured item is sold, a commercial tax is added to that item. There are also taxes placed on trade conducted on the Internet. The electronic commerce tax is placed on items purchased on the Internet.

The tax placed on trade within the country may include a commerce tax which is applied when goods cross state lines. Interstate commerce taxes do not apply to all items, but they do apply is some jurisdictions.

Trade often includes the application of sales taxes or excise taxes. For example, those that sell gasoline, impose a variety of taxes to that sale. In addition to the traditional state sales tax, there may be an excise tax added to the price.

That excise tax may apply on three levels, the local level, the state level and the federal level. In fact, the price of one gallon of gasoline may have several taxes included in that price. The consumer is often unaware of the amount of taxes, as they are already included in the price per gallon.


Taxes applied to electronic commerce can get complicated, as they may also include an excise tax due to the state of residence. For example, the company may impose a sales tax on that item, but it may not be paid to the state where the item is delivered. Instead that tax may be paid to the state where the item is sold from. In that case, the consumer would be responsible for an excise tax to pay to their jurisdiction.

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