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). There are countries who have tax refunds when visitors are leaving (basically reclaiming VAT whilst at the airport), they have already purchased the goods with VAT paid but gets refunded upon them departing.
Actually, it depends on the state/city. There is no federal sales tax; all sales taxes are determined at the state and municipal level and are only charged at the final point of sale. Some states or cities allow for limited versions of what you’re talking about; Washington State rebates sales taxes for Oregon residents.
However, why isn’t this typical across all states? It turns out that taxes tourists is generally more popular than taxing residents. This is especially true if the tax is enacted by referendum. For instance, a lot of stadiums are publicly funded via hotel room and rental car taxes.