Texas wants to mess with Amazon.com

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:20:00 PDT

Thanks to an intrepid Dallas Morning News reporter, Amazon.com shoppers in Texas may soon have to pay sales tax on goods purchased from the site. Maria Halkias asked Robin Corrigan, a sales-tax policy expert in the Texas comptroller's office, why the state doesn't collect sales tax from Amazon. Corrigan said it's because Amazon.com "told me they don't have a distribution center in Texas." That's incorrect. Go ahead and apply to be a senior operations manager at Amazon's Irving, Texas facility.

Thanks to a 1992 Supreme Court ruling, that means Texas can collect sales tax. It's unclear how much more Amazon.com customers will have to pay, but in New York, Comptroller Susan Combs says the state would have picked up $541 million from Amazon in 2006 if it collected sales tax on orders shipped to New York residents. (Photo by Robert Scoble)

Amazon.com lawyers file suit against New York state

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 02 May 2008 08:40:00 PDT

New York state legislators passed a law that will require Amazon.com to collect sales tax on items New Yorkers purchase on the site. Amazon lawyers call the idea "unconstitutional" and have filed a lawsuit in New York's Supreme Court. These lawyers say New York can't ask Amazon to collect sales tax because Amazon isn't based in New York. Legislators there disagree, arguing that if any Amazon affiliates — independent websites which market Amazon.com's catalog of goods, and receive a cut of sales — are based in New York, and several thousand are, Amazon very much has a presence in the state. Amazon's complaint, via Epicenter, is embedded below.

amazoncomplaint - Upload a doc

Valleywag: sales tax

Texas wants to mess with Amazon.com

Amazon.com lawyers file suit against New York state