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I can't say the sales tax has much of an impact at all on where and what I purchase. It's nice to look at my checkout total and say "yay, I don't have to pay a few dollars in tax" but it changes little if it's there. If everything online had the same taxes added then it would just eliminate a variable on the totals I compare when the company with tax doesn't always end up more expensive than the one without anyway.
Mostly I don't buy locally because the stores lack options, it takes a lot more time, sometimes I have no good transportation somewhere, and the cost difference online for better options is far more savings than the cost of sales tax. I joke about why can't we just put a giant delivery box with heating and cooling out front and every local business can just deliver my order while I make it from my home computer or phone while out of town. I had to get a new set of good clothes with less than 24hr notice recently and the fact I absolutely could not find the type of shirt I wanted in my size with no time to go to anther store was at least equal to the extremely higher cost in why I am making sure I never have to go into a store for such things again. I'd rather slap a label on it, drop it in the mail box, wait for the refund to appear, and order the replacement size of exactly what I want on those occasions I don't already know my size for that company. I did just that recently with 2 companies to figure out what to keep buying from them in the future.
In the case of amazon prime it shows up at my door with free 2 day shipping nearly all the time so I don't even have to bother maximizing what I put in my cart or waiting to order things together. Sometimes I probably could get something cheaper than amazon but the reasons I don't bother are similar to the reasons superstores first spread across the US. My recent exceptions were the few times available options were not satisfactory. I found a product I liked the best on amazon but only a fraction of what all the company manufacturers so I ordered a pack of samples from the company to put in a large order direct from their website in the future. Others were some of the few specialty items amazon does not really cover.
I'd probably still order online if I had to pay more than local stores for the options, convenience, and time saved. I used to get a lot of my groceries delivered by schwann's despite being more than the grocery store for not really improved quality but the new guy keeps showing up at the wrong times and I no longer have a freezer that is not in the main house for him to just leave it in so it no longer has a single benefit. 10mins to order something when I know exactly what I need and then wait for it to show up in a couple days instead of 10-30mins driving to the correct store, finding it, settling for what they have or driving to another store, going through checkout, and driving home.... It would take a large swing the other direction in price comparison to counter that. I'd rather give up some things I want than waste an entire day worth of time buying stuff that often ranges from not quite to entirely different than what I was looking for in order to save a little money.
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