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by kayodelycaon 703 days ago
It's worse than that, it can also vary by city.
3 comments

Once I was long-distance cycling in the USA during the summer, and rather fond of chocolate shakes. Somewhere at a fast food place, I got asked if I was eating in or taking out. I asked what the difference was—it seemed incongruous to ask on such an item when that’s the entirety of the order. My curiosity was rewarded: apparently there was an extra tax in that city on one or the other; so I did whichever was cheaper (and honestly, either drinking it inside, or sitting on my trike).

I even came across taxes that were only present in half a city, even—one side of a road but not the other, that kind of thing.

That's probably not uncommon since municipality borders don't follow county borders.
It can even vary within the city—in Chicago there's an extra tax on the F&B industry to support Navy Pier, with very specific boundaries.
It can even vary within a city, and within a zip code - see TID's, NID's, and CID's.
It's even worse than that. You need a complete address to actually know what the correct tax is.