Quote:
Originally Posted by OtterBooks
I'm confused. Amazon includes sales tax for states that require it for online purchases, I thought. If you pay sales tax, how is that lost revenue for local governments? Unless Amazon keeps the tax and doesn't return it to the local government, which doesn't seem right.
|
Amazon only collects sales tax in a handful of states, largely because of lost court decisions (New York) or because it has decided it is to its economic benefit. The only exception is agency books. For those sales, it has to collect sales tax because it is not the seller of the ebook, the publishers are and Amazon is simply their agent.
Amazon has already told Texas it will shutter its distribution center and fire all the employees if Texas insists Amazon collect sales tax on all sales to Texans. Same with California. It has already cut loose its affiliates in Illinois and Rhode Island rather than collect sales tax for those states.