Sunday, July 31

Congress says: Amazon must pay tax



Congress is getting involved in the vexatious dispute over Amazon's refusal to collect state taxes.

On Friday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced legislation that would require Internet-only retailers to add sales taxes to customers' bills, just as their competitors with bricks-and-mortar stores do. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) plans to introduce a similar measure in the House.

The congressional effort is aimed at closing a legal loophole created by a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision that freed online and catalog sellers from the obligation of collecting sales taxes if their businesses had no physical presence in the state where a buyer lives.

Excerpt taken from, Congress takes up Amazon sales tax issue, by Marc Lifsher, reporting for the Los Angeles Times.

2 comments:

  1. I never knew they didn't have to pay taxes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, it is surprising, although I'm not complaining. When I buy an app from the App Store I have to pay tax but never once have I paid tax on a book I've ordered from Amazon. I have a feeling, though, that is coming to an end.

    Thanks for the comment!

    ReplyDelete

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