Hi Jan, I doubt Texas would have been the first out of the gate to serve Amazon papers, but now that momentum appears to be growing, why the heck not? I'm not sure how Texas' tax areas are delimited, but when I lived in New York, their's were completely haphazard, crossing city and county lines and some even comprised of multiple, incongruous patches of land. Each tax area charged a different percentage rate, be it 8.625%, 8.4%, 8.712%, etc. No wonder that Amazon tried to duck the issue for so long--it's absolutely maddening.
I used to fancy the odd eCommerce project until I had to deal with calculating New York State sales tax. There was no eCommerce engine nor even raw data available from the state that could allow you to determine someone's sales tax area based on their street address. For Amazon, much less a small-to-medium size etailer, you'd either have to stop shipping to that state, charge a flat percentage rate that is the lowest rate for the entire state (and eat the difference--charge any more than that and you might be "stealing" from taxpayers even if you give it to the state!) or simply look the other way. Even if tax areas were drawn along county lines, think of the accounting nightmare this would be in a state the size of Texas. Then imagine doing this for all fifty states. Clearly the states need to get the money they deserve, but etailers also need to be able to operate profitable business without nightmarish bureaucracy. I'm speaking more about small-to-medium biz owners here. But, whatever example is made of Amazon (on a state-by-state basis) becomes precedent to go after mom & pops. BTW, I loved Barnes & Noble's open (Valentines) letter to jilted Amazon affiliates: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&tkr=AMZN:US&sid=aWrSYTUJfT0U <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&tkr=AMZN:US&sid=aWrSYTUJfT0U> Cheers, Art Thompson, Jr Logical Things, Inc design + technology + strategy 512-777-1158 [email protected] www.logicalthings.com - Founded 2000. We design, build and host Branded Microsites, Landing Pages, Blogs, Eblasts and whatever comes Next. - Need to send large files? dropbox.yousendit.com/logicalthings - Wanna connect? facebook.com/logicalthings linkedin.com/in/logicalthings twitter.com/logicalthings - On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 2:54 PM, Adrian Nye <[email protected]> wrote: > > It's obvious according to the spirit and letter of the law that Amazon > should be > charged sales tax > because of the distribution center in Irving. If that is not a physical > presence, I don't know what is. Amazon has counted on the > corporate friendly administration here that Texas would want the jobs more > than > the tax money and not enforce the law. Unfortunately for them, > now Texas needs the money, so Texas is pressing the case, and so Amazon is > pulling out (or at least using that threat to get a better deal). > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > > From: Jan Triplett <[email protected]> > > To: [email protected] > > Sent: Tue, February 15, 2011 11:51:50 AM > > Subject: [Refresh Austin: 5784] This is a question about online sales tax > > > > Because of the makeup of Refresh-Austin, I wanted to get feedback on your > >concerns about requiring Amazon to pay state sales tax. I am trying to > gather > >information for a government colleague. > > > > Thank you for your input. > > > > > > Here's to your success! > > > > Jan Triplett, Ph.D. > > Business Success Center > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ > > > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups > >"Refresh Austin" group. > > > > [ Posting ] > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > > Job-related postings should follow http://tr.im/refreshaustinjobspolicy > > We do not accept job posts from recruiters. > > > > [ Unsubscribe ] > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > >[email protected] > > > > [ More Info ] > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin > > > > > > > -- > Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Refresh Austin" group. > > [ Posting ] > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > Job-related postings should follow http://tr.im/refreshaustinjobspolicy > We do not accept job posts from recruiters. > > [ Unsubscribe ] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > > [ More Info ] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin > -- Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Refresh Austin" group. [ Posting ] To post to this group, send email to [email protected] Job-related postings should follow http://tr.im/refreshaustinjobspolicy We do not accept job posts from recruiters. [ Unsubscribe ] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] [ More Info ] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin
