Amazon in Spat with Texas over Taxes

Amazon Pulling Out of Texas Over Sales Tax. (Bookselling This Week, 2/11/2011)

Excerpt: Despite the dramatic act of brinkmanship, officials in Texas appear resolute. “We regret losing any business in the state of Texas,” said Allen Spelce, spokesman for the comptroller’s office. “But our position hasn’t changed: If you have a physical business presence in the state of Texas, you owe sales tax,” as reported by the Dallas Morning News. Texas loses an estimated $600 million a year in uncollected sales taxes for online sales, according to the comptroller’s office.

“Rather than obey the law and collect sales tax – as do all other Texas-based retailers – Amazon.com has instead chosen to shutter a distribution center in the state and put its Texas employees out of work,” said Teicher. “Amazon has once again taken a drastic step to maintain the inequitable strategic advantage it gains by not charging sales tax. The company’s charges of an ‘unfavorable regulatory climate’ are really nothing more than spin, smokescreen, and pique. The truth is that officials in Texas have taken a strong stand in favor of equitable and evenhanded enforcement of existing laws, and retailers in Texas applaud them for it.”