As Arizona attracts online shops, fight over sales tax collection continues
Brewer tours Amazon
Gov. Jan Brewer tours one of the three Amazon distribution centers in the state on Thursday after the company announced it would build a fourth, in Phoenix.
Amazon tour
Dave Clark, an Amazon vice president, explains the operation of one of its Arizona distribution centers to Gov. Jan Brewer on Thursday after the company announced it would build a fourth, in Phoenix.
Amazon Sales Taxes
In this file photo made Monday, Nov. 16, 2009, packages move along a conveyor system to outgoing truck for final shipment inside the 800,000 sq. ft. Amazon.com warehouse, in Goodyear.
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manini posted at 6:32 am on Sun, Aug 7, 2011.
Ummm, dumbest proposal I ever heard of trying to tax internet online merchants. Many internet merchants reside in other states or countries & I'd like to see U collect "sales taxes" from other states & countries...like MX or Canada, fools...LOL!!!
In_God_We_Trust posted at 7:16 am on Sun, Aug 7, 2011.
All online purchases made through stores located within Arizona are already taxed the same as it is in all states. Trying to collect taxes on internet sales from stores outside the state is not only impossible but an attempt by local business interests to prevent you from having any choice but to buy from them. Not a very free enterprise idea at all.
SethCold posted at 10:22 am on Sun, Aug 7, 2011.
There are a lot of online business that do not get taxed, there is one in particular called Intervention Counseling and it is not good to go into it, they charge a mint.
Stephanie posted at 10:24 am on Sun, Aug 7, 2011.
I have a fantastic idea...Go back to taxing the people that can afford it, tax big business (they are sitting on thier money anyway), then cut politicians' salary in half and make the politicians pay for their own healthcare. How about you pour THAT money back into the state! Jacka@@!
jezzabella posted at 12:41 pm on Sun, Aug 7, 2011.
Arizona, Mom and Pop online sellers are required to collect sales tax for anything they sell to an Arizona resident. Amazon, with a warehouse located in Arizona, should be required to do so, as well. If I order a book from BarnesandNoble.com, they collect the sales tax. Why should Amazon be exempt from collecting sales tax to AZ residents? It's all automated and should be very simple. Collect and pay.
NothingButTheTruth posted at 1:45 pm on Sun, Aug 7, 2011.
jezzabella, my understanding of present law is that any online store shipping from within Arizona already collect and pay taxes. This is just an attempt to force out of state businesses to pay state taxes for items shipped to Arizona. It has always been seen as beneficial to help grow the internet by not forcing businesses doing business outside of their state to pay state taxes both in the state they reside and to any state they ship to.
az2008 posted at 4:08 pm on Sun, Aug 7, 2011.
I see a lot of belly aching over how impossible it would be to require out-of-state retailers to pay state sales tax. However, it would be trivial for states to enter into reciprocity agreements to collect and disperse taxes from retailers. For example, if AZ had such an agreement with a dozen other states, they would simply require in-state retailers to report quarterly (as they do already) sale amounts on items shipped to one of those dozen states *by zip code*. Using online tables provided by other states, the retailer would determine how much to pay for a zip code and remit it with that quarterly report.
Some will belly ache about how haaaard it would be to maintain records and sum sales by zip code. Maybe they should go back to high school computer classes. It's *trivial*.
Some will belly ache about how someone might buy something and have it shipped to a non-reciprocal state. If we let perfection be the enemy of good, we'd repeal all laws.
Some will belly ache about how a zip code can span multiple sales-tax jurisdictions (rates). Just apportion the collected money by an average percentage of population and land mass.
I see this as a transition. After enough states enter reciprocity it would undoubtedly become part of the Uniform Commercial Code. Just a process. It's inevitable because it's simply not fair to tax local merchants while excluding non-local.
Some will belly ache about how local merchants add local costs. They pay for that through property taxes -- which remote merchants pay elsewhere. This is a very real case of some merchants *evading* taxation and gaining an unfair advantage.
LOGICannon posted at 5:07 pm on Sun, Aug 7, 2011.
An article I read recently said that Amazon was going to expand their facility in Phoenix and create more jobs here because they were able to work out this no sales tax deal with the state. Was that not the case? Or are politicians now going back on a deal that will force this massive employer to leave the state.
http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/Amazon-to-expand-Phoenix-fulfillment-center-add-jobs-121508094.html
NothingButTheTruth posted at 10:02 pm on Sun, Aug 7, 2011.
az2008, Wouldn't this have a tendency to create an atmosphere in the online business community that would destroy jobs? Never met a tax you didn't like? Arizona needs to attract business like Amazon. This new tax is not a good job creating bill. Let the peoples republic of California try to tax Amazon so that Amazon comes here to Arizona
soricobob posted at 5:15 am on Mon, Aug 8, 2011.
Of course taxes should be collected, otherwise it's money lost. If we're serious about reducing the deficit why not be serious about collecting money owed?
Suelee posted at 6:29 am on Mon, Aug 8, 2011.
The burden of record keeping and reporting sales (user) tax SHOULD be on businesses like Amazon.com and NOT the individual taxpayer. Sales tax is always passed on to the consumer anyway, but at least we don't have to maintain the records or have it complicate our annual income tax paperwork every year.
Again, I am not sure why Amazon.com is resisting this. They are a HUGE company and certainly able to manage the logistics of record keeping and reporting (Sears, KMart, JC Pennys, etc all do already) and the cost of the sales tax is passed on to consumers so get with the program and don't shift the record keeping headache to your consumers!!!
In_God_We_Trust posted at 9:31 am on Mon, Aug 8, 2011.
"At the heart of the battle is an effort by states to capture taxes that are escaping. But standing in their way is a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a company must have a physical presence in a state to be required to collect sales taxes."
The US Supreme Court already ruled, so get over it you tax and spend liberals. We don't need new taxes, we need more government cuts in spending.
jezzabella posted at 5:24 pm on Mon, Aug 8, 2011.
NothingButTheTruth: Read what I said. ARIZONA online sellers have to collect sales tax from customers who reside in AZ. AMAZON has a warehouse in AZ and should have to collect sales tax for books sold to AZ residents. Why does the little seller have to comply with the law and the big corporation doesn't? It IS NOT a tax on Amazon, it is a SALES TAX all sellers have to collect. Everything Amazon does is electronic. It should be simple.
And why are so many people willing to cut any slack for these business giants? They kill the small businesses who are also employers and do the responsible thing and collect sales tax.
soldierone posted at 8:58 pm on Mon, Aug 8, 2011.
So they have a right to force these companies to pay fee's in other states for selling merchandise, then also be forced to collect taxes? These business are only thriving because of no taxes, suddenly you include that and they no longer have an edge. They also have to charge shipping fee's something normal retailers are not forced to provide....The states have no right at all putting their hands in this for money. If they do it should be an online adjusted tax, which should be less than half that of normal tax period. Otherwise your are putting these retailers at a disadvantage and not helping he economy at all as nobody will be able to afford anything once again. You will only cause more business problems and make the almighty Walmart even stronger.
NothingButTheTruth posted at 9:00 pm on Tue, Aug 9, 2011.
jezzabella, My understanding of present law is that Amazon collects taxes on items it ships from it's Arizona warehouse to Arizona buyers. What they would like to do is have all buyers from all states pay their state's taxes. This type of sales was deemed a major hinderance to online sales and would tend to kill it. Online sellers have to charge shipping and handling fees and taxes would just about kill it altogether much to the glee of Sam Walton and the wal-mart dynasty.
Anesilyn posted at 11:00 pm on Sun, Apr 29, 2012.
Online shopping and its proposed sales tax is a big issue. How do you like paying additional tax charges on your purchase? You can read here: More states pushing for online sales tax . Amazon, the popular online retailer, just got smacked with a tax bill in excess of $50 million from the state of Arizona. Arizona is just one of a growing number of states wanting an internet tax.