Online Retailers have to pay tax?
Tip:Amazon.com Inc. and other e-commerce companies are winning some skirmishes against cash-strapped states that want to force them to collect sales taxes, but their victories may be short-lived.
Q:Can you tell us more about the news?
A:Several states are contemplating new laws or revisions to existing law that could eventually force online retailers to pony up. North Carolina, for instance, has a two-pronged approach to going after online retailers. If its current efforts to tax online sales fall through, the state’s revenue secretary plans to interpret existing laws to require companies that have marketing affiliates collect sales taxes.
State Sen. David Hoyle on Thursday called the effort “a fairness issue.” Collecting sales taxes from out-of-state sellers could bring between $150 million and $200 million annually in additional tax revenue, he said. Mr. Hoyle said current law allows the state to force online retailers retroactive sales taxes.
Q:what are the opinions of E-commerce companies ?
A:E-commerce companies said they continue to believe they are not required to collect such taxes. “We don’t want to shoulder the unconstitutional burden of collection in states where we lack a physical presence,” said Patty Smith, a spokeswoman for Seattle-based Amazon. She said the company is “in compliance with all Texas laws governing sales tax collections. Overstock.com Inc. President Jonathan Johnson said the new efforts will be unsuccessful. “The state legislatures don’t have the ability to change what the Supreme Court has said,” he said. “We will sue any state that tries to unconstitutionally attack our business,” Mr. Johnson added.
Q:Does these companies have any measures to express their oppsition? Read the rest of this entry »
