Re: UPS shipping rates & zone ta

Decades ago I did something similar in which we had to figure taxes based on 
zip code of the customer, for a chain of retail stores ... if we had a store 
in a particular combination state-city-county then when someone ordered 
merchandise through our mail order operation or telephone call to HQ we had 
to charge them the same taxes as if they in that store, but if they in same 
state but a county in which we had no store, we only had to charge the state 
sales tax, and if sale to an address in a state where we had no store, then 
no such taxes.

So the program to get from which zip code to which tax rate, like state rate 
+ does that county have an add on & is there a city tax, and fortunately it 
all could be paid to the state, was basically dependent on data from the post 
office that told us which zip codes were which counties, and data from the 
state that told us which counties & cities had which add ons to the state 
rates.

I had one table of zip codes, in which some were like the first 2-3 digits & 
the story on that prefix was valid until a later entry that might go 5 
digits, so SETLL & READ gets you to the relevant zip code level of match.  As 
I recall, there were some problems involving certain 5 digit zip codes that 
were shared by more than one county in which the 2 counties had different 
cumulative tax rates, so there had to be secondary subroutines to do 
something different for specific zip codes.

The map of zip code to county was pretty static until post office split up 
some growing area, but the tax rates were very volatile with counties 
frequently getting adjusted rates, so there really needed to be a second 
table ... from zip code to county to current rules for that county, so when 
county rules change, update the county table, and leave the zip table alone.

Al Macintyre  ©¿©
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