As is clear from the Amazon statement, they are not against sales taxes in principle and would agree to pay one if it were uniform
As lsc pointed out above, that's not the case at all. Amazon is refusing to collect taxes on behalf of its customers, not refusing to pay its own taxes.
By law, citizens are supposed to tally up what they bought from internet retailers over the course of the year and pay any remaining sales tax on April 15th. Shockingly, this isn't happening, and the sales taxes aren't being paid at all. So these states want Amazon to behave like a bricks and mortar retailer, and collect the tax at time of sale instead.
Amazon doesn't want to collect sales tax because not doing so makes their prices look lower than competitors like Barnes and Noble, which does collect sales tax. Nothing more, nothing less.
The law concerning use tax is un-Constitutional, that is the issue; and something that most people who do not file the use tax portion, are well aware of.
edit: what part of "No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State." is unclear?
It is unconstitutional for a state to force a corporation out of state to collect sales tax, but it is certainly not unconstitutional to tax individuals in your state based on almost any concievable action the individual chooses to do.
How does refraining from collecting sales tax make Amazon look cheaper than Barnes and Noble? The sticker price doesn't factor in the sales tax; on an item-by-item comparison, the prices would look the same if B&N could match Amazon.
Based on this observation, I find the explanation that Amazon's not interested in spending the money to track state and local sales tax policies to be more plausible.
I don't think sticker price comes into play as much online. If you buy enough online, you get accustom to going through the purchasing process due to the additional price of shipping.
If B&N is calculating "Shipping + Tax" while Amazon is just calculating "Shipping" there will be a slight difference in price. And why not go with the cheapest?
Wal-Mart wanted $30 for a 10 foot USB cable. I got the same cable down the road for $10 at Radio Shack. Wal-Mart should be cheaper due to larger bulk discounts and their famed logistics. A $20 difference can't be accounted for with a 6% sales tax. And it was still cheaper than online once I added shipping.
Wait if I buy an item in state Y and pay their state tax am I supposed to go back and pay state X where i live another tax on the same item? If not just have Amazon collect consumer taxes based on the state they are incorporated in and pay those back to that state. Then states would compete on corporate tax rates to attract business for the infusion of cash and the tax collection mechanism for online retailers is dramatically simplified.
In some cases, yes depending on the state. If you buy an item in state Y and pay y% sales tax on it, then when you return to state X, sometimes you are required to pay the difference x%-y% in tax.
I am not a tax expert, but here are some examples I know of:
A buddy of mine recently purchased a car while living in Texas, then moved to California a few months later and was required to pay the difference in sales tax on it before registering it.
New Hampshire doesn't have sales tax. The state of Massachusetts assumes people who reside in border towns will be purchasing goods there and automatically bills a yearly flat rate.
Generally, use tax covers only items not taxed otherwise, so certainly no you do not owe X any sales tax if Y charged you. But this is a summary of a summary of a summary, for more details you can start at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_tax and start following links from there, because details will certainly vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
As lsc pointed out above, that's not the case at all. Amazon is refusing to collect taxes on behalf of its customers, not refusing to pay its own taxes.
By law, citizens are supposed to tally up what they bought from internet retailers over the course of the year and pay any remaining sales tax on April 15th. Shockingly, this isn't happening, and the sales taxes aren't being paid at all. So these states want Amazon to behave like a bricks and mortar retailer, and collect the tax at time of sale instead.
Amazon doesn't want to collect sales tax because not doing so makes their prices look lower than competitors like Barnes and Noble, which does collect sales tax. Nothing more, nothing less.