Says Jeff Blagdon at The Verge:
More than a year after Amazon began collecting sales tax on sales in states like Texas and California, it’s mounting a legal offensive against a requirement to do the same thing in New York, taking its argument to the US Supreme Court. And the Financial Times writes that the company has hired one of Washington’s biggest lawyers, Ted Olson, to lead the charge. The company filed a petition late last week asking the court to rule on the New York tax department’s requirement that Amazon collect tax from its customers in the state.
How is it Mitt Romney can be pretty much universally reviled for hiding his money from taxes, but Amazon fights as hard as it can across the country against fighting taxes and it’s one of the most beloved companies on the internet*? Here’s what Amazon is fighting against: Funding for schools, roads, parks, libraries, public transportation, fire fighters, police, and all the other programs people take for granted. What a brave, good company they are, fighting as hard as they can to not support those things.
* That’s a rhetorical question. I already know the answer: People love cheap shit, and they will fight and justify almost anything for their right to it.
Let them collect all the sales tax. I don’t give one shit. luloregon
So you’ve never purchased anything from Amazon, Paul?
Actually, it is the buyers that fail to pay Use Tax on internet purchases are the ones who do not support that laundry list of services you name. Amazon is under no obligation to collect Sales Tax where they have no physical presence. They are doing nothing more than following the law.