Perch Shop - Shipping and Tax Query

Perch: 2.8.32, PHP: 5.6.28, MySQL: mysqlnd 5.0.11-dev - 20120503 - $Id: 76b08b24596e12d4553bd41fc93cccd5bac2fe7a $, with PDO
Server OS: Linux, cgi-fcgi
Installed apps: content (2.8.32), assets (2.8.32), categories (2.8.32), perch_blog (5.0), perch_forms (1.8.3), perch_kraken (1.0), perch_shop_orders (1.0.9), perch_shop_products (1.0.9), perch_shop (1.0.9), perch_members (1.5)
App runtimes: <?php $apps_list = array( 'content', 'categories', 'perch_blog', 'perch_forms', 'perch_members', 'perch_shop', );
PERCH_LOGINPATH: /perch
PERCH_PATH: /home/topjockt/public_html/perch
PERCH_CORE: /home/topjockt/public_html/perch/core
PERCH_RESFILEPATH: /home/topjockt/public_html/perch/resources
Image manipulation: GD
PHP limits: Max upload 20M, Max POST 20M, Memory: 48M, Total max file upload: 20M
F1: 2edba60ed1f613d6dd804feb202456a2
Resource folder writeable: Yes
DOCUMENT_ROOT: /home/topjockt/public_html
HTTP_HOST: topjocktackboxes.com
REQUEST_URI: /perch/core/settings/diagnostics/
SCRIPT_NAME: /perch/core/settings/diagnostics/index.php

We have set up a shop using Perch Shop on Perch 2 (not runway). The only issue we have is with regards the shipping aspect.

The store itself only operates with the USA and they will be using UPS to ship the packages to various states. Ideally what we would do is swap the current shipping zones list from countries to states - hopefully allowing us to calculate the cost for shipping based on the buyers state location. Is this possible?

I can see that the countries were added to Perch via the data.sql file upon installation. Is it possible to add to this without harming the operation of the shop?

Or is there a way to integrate the UPS API with Perch Shop to calculate Live Rates?

Although we have set up numerous e-commerce sites in the past (mostly using FoxyCart), we have never set one up for USA only and we are now discovering there is a whole murky world of tax rates… possibly hundreds of different rates per state. Again, much like above, is there a way to calculate the tax based on location by changing the tax locations from countries to states (or zip codes)?

Or is there an out-of-the-box solution we can integrate Perch Shop with?