In Indiana these are called casual sales and there
is no tax. However, it does not extend to aircraft;
I'm not sure about used automobiles, but I beieve these
are tax free. If one buys a new car from a dealer
and has a trade-in, the tax is only on the difference
between the trade-in price and the new car price.
Subsequent per annum taxes on vehicles are based on
the blue book price; such prices on aircraft are based
on the year of manufacture and the gross landing weight
without regard to manufacturer, condition, or other
considerations.

At 22:18 04 May 2007,
wrote:
Sales taxes are usually designed as consumption/use
taxes so the
jurisdiction where you use the item is the one where
you will owe
taxes. For convenience, the authoritioes collect sales
taxes on most
items at point of sale, working on the assumption that
you will use it
in the same jurisdiction. However, for major purchases,
if they
become aware of the transaction, they will put mechanisms
in place to
track you down. A good example is automobiles. When
you go to
licence it in your jurisduction, they nail you for
the sales tax. For
aircraft, the process of exchanging information between
federal
authorities and local authorities is slow so it is
not uncommon to see
delays of years. I live in Canada and we experience
the same thing.
When I bought a sailplane within the province, I waited
2 years to get
a tax bill from the province.

Some 'sales' taxes are desdigned as value added taxes,
rather than
consumption taxes. In Europe, they are used to this
concept. In
Canada, we have the GST which is a federal sales tax
that only applies
to commercial sales, not private sales. The purchaser
pays the tax
but the vendor gets a credit for similar taxes paid
on the inventory
so the net tax to the feds is only on the 'value added'
to the
product. It may be that in Ohio whether it is a consumption
sales tax
or a value-added sales tax that they have made a policy
decision to
only charge the tax on new sales. This is the policy
in Canada so
while I paid the provincial sales tax (PST), I was
not required to pay
the federal general sales tax (GST).

Isn't tax policy facinating? ...

Stephen