NY Times, LA Times Want Amazon To Collect More State Taxes

theodp writes "Recalling that CEO Jeff Bezos originally explored placing Amazon.com on an Indian Reservation near San Francisco to 'have access to talent without all the tax consequences,' the NY Times argues it's time to put an end to the e-tailer's 'entity isolation' tax-avoidance games. The LA Times chimes in, saying Amazon's claims that collecting sales tax constitute an undue burden are 'worth a horselaugh,' noting that Amazon boasts it has no problem keeping track of millions of unique products."

Comments

Wouldn't it be wonderful,

[CrackedButter]

if there were no tax heavens anywhere in the world and businesses just paid what they owed like the rest of us. Sure the prices will go up but if this happened from the get go, it wouldn't be an issue. I'm annoyed with companies avoiding paying tax but then using the government system to seek protections or create laws for their benefit.

Re:How do you think it works in the EU ?

[lena_10326]

Brick and mortar stores - all of which have to collect and pay sales taxes - also have to pay corporate income taxes. Why should Amazon have such a huge advantage over brick and mortar stores?

Huge advantage? Ever heard of shipping? Bumps the price of the item up about as much as sales tax. In fact, since I live in WA I already have to pay sales tax on my Amazon orders on top of shipping costs. It makes small items cost about 2 or 3 times what they cost in the local Target/Walmart.

Taxless

[Plugh]

And then there are states like New Hampshire, with no state sales tax (and no state income tax, either)
I guess these dying dinosaur newspapers will concentrate their efforts where governments are largest and extract the most wealth from the serfs.

Re:How do you think it works in the EU ?

[azrider]

And sometimes the maps for them get very strange.

And it can get even stranger. At least in Arizona, your zip code is not an indicator as to the county you live in (not to mention what city). In order to administer collection of sales/use taxes down to the local level (yes, we do have cities that levy sales taxes), you would almost need GPS/GIS information.

If you have a Queen Creek zip code, you might live in Queen Creek, in unincorporated Maricopa county or in unincorporated Pinal county (all at different rates). Which combination of state/county/local sales taxes do you collect?

The same goes for the Pinal/Pima county line (Red Rock and Marana). Once again, one zip code with multiple jurisdictions with different tax rates.

When the politicians say this is an issue of fairness (no sales tax - competitive advantage to online retailers), they somehow miss the other side of the coin. When the brick and mortar stores add handling and delivery charges the online stores should collect sales taxes.