> Can't say I blame them - dealerships are the biggest source of sales tax revenue in every single rural area that they're in.
I don't know about other states, but California sends the sales tax money to the city/county of the registered address, no matter where you buy the car. In short, if every car was sold from the same dealership, each city/county would get the same sales tax as it would with a dealer in every city/county.
One side effect of this is that you can't get a discount on car sales tax by buying in a low-tax area if you live in a high-tax area like you can with most other purchases, such as car parts, books, computers. (Sales tax varies by city and county in CA.)
I don't know about other states, but California sends the sales tax money to the city/county of the registered address, no matter where you buy the car. In short, if every car was sold from the same dealership, each city/county would get the same sales tax as it would with a dealer in every city/county.
One side effect of this is that you can't get a discount on car sales tax by buying in a low-tax area if you live in a high-tax area like you can with most other purchases, such as car parts, books, computers. (Sales tax varies by city and county in CA.)