Feature Request - Tax By Location

Hello.

Great start on the tax features.  

I was researching my state's tax laws, and I was suprised how complicated it is just to calculate tax on general merchandise.

In my state (Illinois), I have to charge tax based on a "location" and "category".  Location = (city/town/villiage) and optionally, county.  So, at a minimum I would need just one more level underneath "state/province"..  Call it .. "Locations"  and, each location would be either just a city name, or a city and county.  Go figure, some cities are in two counties... and under each location I'd need the ability to input a tax rate for each "category" for that location.  And, I would guess categories would be defined at state level, in addition to the global categories.

Since my site will only sell "General Merchandise" I could get away without the ability to actually input the different taxes by category, but others may not be able to.
And since I only have an office in IL, I could get away with global categories, but a company with offices in two states wouldn't be able to get away with that.

Here is a web page with links to information about IL tax.
http://www.revenue.state.il.us/publications/Sales/index.htm

Here is a PDF where you can see the different tax rates by location.  (an impediment to small businesses in IL)
http://www.revenue.state.il.us/publications/Sales/strrm/07012008/ST-25.pdf

Perhaps it might make sense to implement an int but erface that provides lookup of location based on address, and a list of interfaces could be registered somehow in the web.config per state that the merchant has offices in..?

So.. in closing.. I didn't see additional tax functionality on the road map.  When do you think adding the feature described here would be feasible?  Have you guys done any analysis on what tax laws are like in other states?  Or, how other eCommerce software addresses this issue?  

Thanks

Rob

In IL, do I need to get tax certification before start charging buyer tax? I have Tax ID already.

Same with FL.  We have an overall state tax but then counties can have a surtax of an additional %.  It would be nice to have a county option available. So, if FL is chosen as the state for shipping, then another drop down for counties.  Then in the tax provider be able to either specify a state level tax and then the additional county level or just specify the overall tax amount at the county level.  Example, my county charges and additional 1% so either FL would be at 6% and then Polk at 1% or the total at Polk would be 7%.  Whatever would be easier.  And then, of course, an area to specify counties for that state.  

I was going to specify it all by zip code but there are many zip codes that are in multiple counties.

Oh the joys of online commerce and business ownership in general!  LOL

Thanks,
WaltD