One of those 'odd-ball' taxes that likely is still on the books due to some morality issue, I suppose. I've seen it misinterpreted two different ways, one saying that there is no tax on decks with more than 54 cards, not true - it's more than 10 cents in that case. I've also seen a claim once that the seller paid $1 as well, again, not true. They do have to pay $3 (used to be $2) for a license to sell them (i.e. in order to affix the tax stamps).
I can't find the statute to tell you exactly what the cost for 55 or more cards is, but what I have seen it 20 cents. I don't know if that is the correct amount or just the (im)practical side of enforcement.
Now, the thought comes that all of the KS (and similar) project campaigns that deliver decks to Alabama are likely breaking that law - but I guess we have to assume that nobody cares unless you are selling them IN (from?) Alabama. They started using this tax in the mid 1930's. South Carolina used to have an 8 cent tax on each deck (not limited by a specific number of cards), but it went "out of style" in the late 60's or early 70's, but even living in SC, I can't find the precise date is was rescinded.
You're probably right in that in South Carolina, it was a "sin tax," because the statue covering stamp-type taxation of playing cards also covered the taxation of tobacco and ammunition. It's in the state's Code of Laws, Title 12, Chapter 21, Article 5 - but I can't find any repeal date for the taxation of cards. It's worth noting that the tax applied to purchases made out-of-state and delivered to the retailer, but there's nothing in the law about it applying to direct sales to consumers. In fact, upon close reading of the law as it exists
here, the sections of the article of law dealing with ammunition and playing card tax rates appear to have been removed at some point, with the remaining sections of the law mentioning them being left over from the days when the taxes on those items were in effect. It's a common occurrence - it was easier to leave it in the law than to rewrite the law and have it removed, so those sections were left in and the sections on rates of taxation for those products were the only things removed. Cigarettes are taxed at 2.5 cents per cigarette, adding up to 50 cents for a pack and five dollars for a typical carton.
I dug a little deeper. This
might be it,
the act for the repeal of taxation on both playing cards and ammunition: H4849 from session 112 (1997-1998) of the SC State Legislature.
The tax in Alabama, according to
the state's Department of Revenue, is 10 cents for each deck of not more than 54 cards. This is generally to be interpreted that if a pack contains more than 54 cards, it's considered "two decks" and would be taxed as such. In all likelihood, this limitation does NOT include the presence of advertisement cards, thus allowing a typical pack of standard USPC playing cards (poker or pinochle) to sell at a tax rate of 10 cents. When the cards are included in a gift package or included in a game, the stamp has to be affixed not to the cards but to the outside of the gift or game package. The Revenue Department is the only entity selling the stamps, and retailers must obtain a "playing card privilege license" in order to sell playing cards and use the stamps. Almost by definition, this excludes the taxation of playing cards shipped from out of state directly to the consumer.
I would be curious how the Alabama Department of Revenue views the inclusion of gaff cards - it would in the case of many USPC decks raise the total number of cards above 54, thus increasing the tax on them.
It is not unheard of, though, for states to tax items purchased outside of the state by its residents. New York is a state that has a law on the books requiring the payment of sales tax on all items purchased out of state, and in most cases it's the obligation of the buyer to report the taxes to the state government on their income tax form. If you purchase a car, for example, in New Jersey and bring it home to register it in New York, you'll pay the NJ state sales tax at the time of purchase, then the NY State sales tax before you'll be permitted to register the vehicle in New York - obviously, that's one case where the state doesn't rely on the honor system for people to report their purchases. Another would be all purchases made from Amazon.com - for a very long time, the company kept most of its operations in states that didn't have a state sales tax and were centrally located to allow for fast shipment to all parts of the country. Now, however, they've entered into an agreement with the state of New York - all NYS residents making purchases from Amazon.com pay the state sales tax on them at the time of purchase, which Amazon forwards on to New York State. Amazon.com is more like the exception, though - most Internet retailers only collect their own state's sales tax from where they're physically located, and then only from the residents of that state. If a retailer has a presence both online and in retail stores, they're generally required to charge sales tax on the residents of the states where those stores are located - one of the reasons I paid New York sales tax on a mail-ordered Apple computer shipped to me from Cupertino, California. In fact, I didn't just pay the state's tax - the state also collects local sales taxes for the cities of Yonkers and New York, the first and fourth largest cities in the state (and probably the state's two biggest sources of income tax revenue).
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