No sales taxes on Kindle e-books, please—and here’s why

David Rothman at Teleread responds to the NYT article: Sorry, Shoppers, but Why Can’t Amazon Collect More Tax?

December 28, 2009 by Uncategorized 7

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7 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:
    December 28, 2009 at 5:11 pm

    I think that guy uses my library.
    what a kook. anti-sales-tax kook. too many numbers for me to care about anything he says.
    the bottom line is that Amazon does business in every state, but only collects (not pays, just collects) sales tax in states where it absolutely has to… this gives them an advantage over B&N, Best Buy, Sears, etc.

    tax law needs to be amended to force multi-billion dollar companies to collect taxes. I don’t care about your damn ebooks, but if my Bud Lite and my .40 cal. bullets are taxed, then your Kindle should be taxed.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says:
    December 28, 2009 at 6:51 pm

    inmybook
    If I went to a website like inmybook.com would there be sales tax for all 50 states? They do business in all 50 states shouldn’t they be collecting sales tax also? When you put the burnen of collecting sales tax on the big evil Amazon you are also going to impact all the little online sellers because they then have to act like they are doing business in all 50 states. Which they are because they are on the Internet?

    Hey Birdie. What is your view as a small online business owner? Should you be collecting sales tax for all 50 states? Do you? If we exempt you but not Amazon where do we draw the line?

    Reply
    • birdie says:
      December 28, 2009 at 7:42 pm

      taxes
      My obligation is to pay tax on direct to consumer sales in New York State, which I do. That is the only state in which I operate, unlike Amazon.
      HQ, by the way are in a 10′ square room.

      Reply
      • Anonymous says:
        December 29, 2009 at 12:36 am

        Bad prom date
        So when you bolded this language in a previous post:

        “It’s like the morning after the prom, when in wrinkled dress and wilting corsage you realize they’re just not that into you. At least, not when they may have to collect millions in state sales tax that could help fix bridges, keep schools open and fund libraries at a time when your states are truly suffering. And they seemed so nice.”

        How big of a company do you have to be before you are a bad prom date?

        Reply
      • Anonymous says:
        December 29, 2009 at 4:12 pm

        Several states
        Amazon collects sales tax for the states where they have a physical presence. So they are doing exactly what you are doing. If the law is changes that they have to collect for all 50 states whether they have a physical presence or not that is also likely to effect you because then you will need to collect for all 50 states because you sell online to all 50 states.

        Reply
  3. Anonymous says:
    December 29, 2009 at 3:50 am

    It’s Just All So Confusing
    I sell on Amazon….all my stuff is resale (off of my shelves) which I have already paid the taxes on…..I’m not gonna make someone else pay a second helping!

    However, I do believe that the corporations should pay taxes….but here’s the thing, most of the sellers I purchase from on Amazon, do charge me tax! Then should Amazon pay as well, on top of what I’ve paid?

    Reply
    • Anonymous says:
      December 29, 2009 at 3:25 pm

      it’s *collect” tax, not pay
      Amazon pays taxes, but they don’t collect sales tax for everything they sell. The argument is whether they are obligated to collect the tax then remit it to each state where the sale was made.. just like how you pay tax on what you buy in Target, then Target sends the money to the state dept. of revenue, or whatever.

      Reply

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