Not being an American the whole idea of not including tax in the stated price just seems so alien. You expect me to work out what 12.5% of my bill is on the fly as I’m shopping?

well, no.

They do that when they ring you up. The price on the shelf is pre tax. The price at the register is post tax. So you just do a mental adjustment as you shop, adding about 10% or so on top of what you're buying.

It's not ideal, but it's not impossible.

I think realistically, sales tax should probably be at the distributor side. But it's kind of nice being explicitly aware of what the sales tax is.