> By “late binding” the sales tax, they avoid having to churn the printed/published prices.
Strictly speaking, you don't have to change the total price if the tax rate changes, you can change the base price so that the total comes out the same. This is how prices are typically set in Europe, though vendors can of course change prices in response to tax rate changes, but it doesn't normally happen automatically.
Now, you might argue this hides the tax even more, if the customer doesn't even notice a price change when the rate changes, but one could also argue the latter is a good thing for the customer (if the business decides to eat the cost, at least for a while).
Strictly speaking, you don't have to change the total price if the tax rate changes, you can change the base price so that the total comes out the same. This is how prices are typically set in Europe, though vendors can of course change prices in response to tax rate changes, but it doesn't normally happen automatically.
Now, you might argue this hides the tax even more, if the customer doesn't even notice a price change when the rate changes, but one could also argue the latter is a good thing for the customer (if the business decides to eat the cost, at least for a while).