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> Lmao, you're really going to hate me when I tell you I don't think we should be using addresses for anything other than delivering physical things

This is not always an option. For example, in some jurisdictions, you need to calculate, charge, and remit sales taxes based on client location, even if you are selling digital goods.




However these locational jurisdiction details will be unique (i.e. a state, a country, a city, a trading block, a tax code etc).

These can be different to the address details which is nothing more than a postal address to where the goods/letters need to be posted.

In other words the former details should be explicitly provide in a fault tolerant manner (i.e. drop down lists) and not parsed from the details found in the address.


USA mailing addresses are strictly that -- an identifier for the convenience of the Post Office which may or may not correspond to the underlying jurisdictions for things like political boundaries, tax authorities, etc.

I learned this when setting up voter databases. A house that is in a given city/precinct/etc (the atomic identity is parcel number) may have a mailing address in a completely different city. There are many such cases for Los Gatos vs Saratoga, for example. Also, the USPS considers every address to be in some "city" even on unincorporated parcels.

Back when phone area codes and prefixes had precise geographical meanings, many edge cases ended up on the "wrong" area code (e.g. Sunnyvale numbers being in 415/650 instead of 408 between the 85 freeway and the Sunnyvale border).


The local taxes are rarely based on the street address and typically coincides with a larger municipal division.

The problem in that case is trying to use the “address” for two purposes which may not be aligned, getting goods to the buyer and trying to find their tax domicile.


  local taxes are rarely based on the street address
No, they're based on the underlying geographical boundaries based on the parcel number. This usually corresponds to the city in the mailing address (in contiguously Incorporated lots) but not always.




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