Amazon to Collect Sales Tax in Most States Starting April 1st

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Amazon to Collect Sales Tax in Most States Starting April 1st



David Z. Morris
Mar 25, 2017
CNBC reports that after more than two decades of bad blood and legal wrangling between states and the online giant, Amazon will collect sales tax in all states that have such a levy. Collection in Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, and New Mexico, the final four states where shoppers don't pay required tax through the site, will begin on April 1st.

Amazon will still not charge sales tax in Alaska, Delaware, Oregon, Montana, or New Hampshire, which don’t have state sales taxes.

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A 1992 Supreme Court ruling decreed that online vendors can sell goods without collecting sales tax, as long as they don’t have a physical location in a given state. But as Amazon sales grew, states weighed methods for circumventing that ruling. Though most states theoretically require consumers to track and pay sales tax on purchases even if the tax isn’t collected by the vendor, that rule has gone largely unenforced, leading to billions in lost revenue for cities and states.

Amazon also enjoyed a significantcompetitive advantage thanks to its shoppers’ tax savings. Amazon has significantly increased the number of U.S. states where it charges sales tax in recent years, though primarily because the expansion of its network of warehouses and fulfillment centers has made it mandatory.

But the latest wave of sales tax changes appears voluntary, and began late last year when Amazon started collecting sales tax forWashington, D.C. Amazon steadily added states from December to March, with the April wave completing the standardization of company policy.

However, Amazon’s move leaves many online retailers still not charging sales tax, which brick-and-mortar retailers have long argued is a major competitive headwind. A Missouri retail lobbyist speaking toBloomberg BNA in January said that Main Street stores still wanted a national law standardizing sales tax policy for online sellers.
 

Mask

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156980965.jpg

"An employee stacks boxes filled with merchandise for shipment at the Amazon.com Inc. distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona on Nov. 26, 2012.Photograph by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images"
 

LSN

Phat booty lover.
BGOL Investor
Well anybody ordered yet

ya I ordered a router y-day...charged tax of course...no complaints tho...my shit gonna arrive exactly when they say it will and that's what I'm gladly paying for...still waiting for shipping confirmation from fuck ass gamestop on an order I paid for over a week ago that was supposed to ship this past fri. I had to search and look up random sites just to hear a fucking rumor that it should ship to me toward the end of the week...2 weeks after I paid for it...and I'm take that shit right to the fucking store and get all my $$$ back...fuck them
 

gene cisco

Not A BGOL Eunuch
BGOL Investor
They been collecting tax in Ohio for a while now, so I'm glad everybody else has to pay taxes too. Lol

Yeah, they passed that online tax a while back, so we pay tax now on most online orders if the company does a certain amount of business here. More money for our politicians to piss away. Found that shit out the hard way last year when I ordered a TV directly from Samsung to avoid the $100 tax bill and got hit up anyway. :angry:
 

praetor

Rising Star
OG Investor
I use them less and less because of this. I mainly only get things that are fulfilled by Amazon now. That way there's no sales tax but I still get Prime shipping plus easy returns.
 

Nzinga

Lover of Africa
BGOL Investor
This might save Target, K-Mart, Sears and the many other
retailers Amazon is driving out of business
 

Dannyblueyes

Aka Illegal Danny
BGOL Investor
This might save Target, K-Mart, Sears and the many other
retailers Amazon is driving out of business

IMO it won't.

Amazon customers tend to be people who live in urban centers where department stores are hard to get to. For instance, San Francisco doesn't have a big box Target, a Sears or K-Mart. Going to one means crossing the Bay Bridge, paying a $6 toll and spending up to 2 extra hours in gridlocked traffic. If you know exactly what you're buying it's much cheaper and easier just to have it shipped. Tax doesn't make much difference.

That said, if I were looking to spend $2,000 or more in one shot I would probably drive to Nevada and do it there.
 

Nzinga

Lover of Africa
BGOL Investor
IMO it won't.

Amazon customers tend to be people who live in urban centers where department stores are hard to get to. For instance, San Francisco doesn't have a big box Target, a Sears or K-Mart. Going to one means crossing the Bay Bridge, paying a $6 toll and spending up to 2 extra hours in gridlocked traffic. If you know exactly what you're buying it's much cheaper and easier just to have it shipped. Tax doesn't make much difference.

That said, if I were looking to spend $2,000 or more in one shot I would probably drive to Nevada and do it there.
But if Amazon is already killing these enterprises, would not reversing
some of the momentum of Amazon have a salutory effect on the troubled
fortunes of these other retailers?
 

Dannyblueyes

Aka Illegal Danny
BGOL Investor
But if Amazon is already killing these enterprises, would not reversing
some of the momentum of Amazon have a salutory effect on the troubled
fortunes of these other retailers?

Big box retailers can only be successful if its practical for people to drive to their stores. Right now the cost of land used for parking lots is going up, so is the cost of gas, insurance and traffic fines. People are also starting to realize that these big box stores come with higher municipal taxes to cover policing and road improvements.

The age of the automobile is starting to end. As it does these department stores will end along with it
 

Goingmark40

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i was pissed when i first started seeing it last year. now i dont sweat it. still be cheaper than buying something out of stores
 

Mask

"OneOfTheBest"
Platinum Member
IMO it won't.

Amazon customers tend to be people who live in urban centers where department stores are hard to get to. For instance, San Francisco doesn't have a big box Target, a Sears or K-Mart. Going to one means crossing the Bay Bridge, paying a $6 toll and spending up to 2 extra hours in gridlocked traffic. If you know exactly what you're buying it's much cheaper and easier just to have it shipped. Tax doesn't make much difference.

That said, if I were looking to spend $2,000 or more in one shot I would probably drive to Nevada and do it there.


Yup that makes sense in this instance
 

BKF

Rising Star
Registered
This might save Target, K-Mart, Sears and the many other
retailers Amazon is driving out of business
That shit dont matter. Even with the sales tax, I'm still getting great deals, and a lot of stores don't have shit in stock. Walmart is trying to compete with Amazon, by offering free shipping. Amazon is a juganaut causing stores to close up. All the while building fulfillment centers, which can deliver product the same day.
 
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doggface

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
I was pissed when I first noticed it too

Started to do less shopping through them

Same, I've been shopping at other site and locally.

I probably won't be renewing prime when it expire either. In addition to the tax nothing seems to come in 2 days anymore and there prices aren't as competitive as they use to be
 

M.H.C.

5280
BGOL Investor
Yeah they started doing that in Colorado about a year ago. They're opening a big ass fulfillment center here. That's going to be dope for shipping for me. I'm already a Prime Member. It makes sense for now.
 

M.H.C.

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Dark08

Rising Star
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I feel like they always did in NY NJ

In the early days they didn't, but they deaded that shit I believe a few yrs ago.

The only alternative I see is Ebay.

I had addresses in both for deliveries and use to get stuff to NY then NY started charging tax first so my stuff went to Jerz then Jerz started up later but the tax still slightly cheaper as oppose being the same price when they both didn't charge tax....
 

Mr. Del

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I had addresses in both for deliveries and use to get stuff to NY then NY started charging tax first so my stuff went to Jerz then Jerz started up later but the tax still slightly cheaper as oppose being the same price when they both didn't charge tax....
I just ordered some noise canceling headphones and they charged me $30 tax... it's not really a big deal but its still some bullshit.
 

BKF

Rising Star
Registered
Exactly, neither statements have any relevance to this thread.
My post does have relevance. Since if people stop shopping with Amazon. They would still be shopping through companies that more than likely pay little to no taxes.
So what exactly would be solves by if people stopped shopping at Amazon?
 
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