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).
Yeah, sales taxes is generally bad because it is regressive. The fact that it can capture revenue from non-locals is one of the main benefits.