I mean, there are countries where tourists don’t have to pay tax on top of items (meaning they pay for it tax free given if they presented their passport upon purchase proving they’re merely only a visitor, that won’t work on expats though). Those countries usually have tax refunds when visitors are leaving (basically reclaiming VAT whilst at the airport).
The tax is meant to be on the business selling the product, not the person buying it. There are added rules requiring the tax to be added on after the sale price so that it remains a visible tax, thus making the public more likely to support repealing it.
‘sales tax’ is collected and remitted to the state by merchants, but paid by the customer.
The entire revenue is paid by the customer. Sales tax is itemized out. It’s been intentionally pushed towards the consumer as to prevent it being known as a business tax.