Amazon Pulling Out of Texas Over Sales Tax

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CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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We have all heard the phrase “don’t mess with Texas”, but it seems that Texas shouldn’t be messing with Amazon either. Amazon will be closing down its Irving distribution center on April 12th. If this trend continues, Amazon will be running out of states.

Following the passage of e-fairness legislation Colorado, North Carolina, and Rhode Island, Amazon.com severed relationships with affiliate businesses in all three states to avoid collecting sales tax.
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Pretty soon all of these online retailers are going to be located on some carribean island if all the broke ass states start forcing online retailers to charge sales tax.
 
So now instead of losing out on the taxes it would have collected from Amazon, Texas loses out on the taxes AND hundreds of jobs.
 
Wow, did any of you guys read what this is about?

If you have a physical presence in a state, you must collect sales tax owed to that state. That's why you have to pay sales tax in California, New Jersey, or Tennessee if you purchase from Newegg.

Amazon has a physical presence in Texas and refuses to collect taxes from customers it owes to the states. Other retailers in Texas must do the same or they face the same penalty.

Amazon is being a baby.
 
Here's a great idea. Why don't states stop pissing off money like it falls freely from the sky. Then they don't have to come up with more taxes, hand out photo radar tickets, or tax us driving on roads or visiting parks that belong to us in the first fucking place. This shit is only going to get worse unless YOU as a voter do something about it. Anti incumbent all the way.
 
Good for Amazon.
I wish more companies would take a stand like this instead of bending over.
 
PeaKr said:
Here's a great idea. Why don't states stop pissing off money like it falls freely from the sky. Then they don't have to come up with more taxes, hand out photo radar tickets, or tax us driving on roads or visiting parks that belong to us in the first fucking place. This shit is only going to get worse unless YOU as a voter do something about it. Anti incumbent all the way.
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The turnover from the recent election sure did bring a lot of change. This is a nexus issue, if you have a physical presence in a state you have to collect sales tax in that state to those living in the state. Its like this in the vast majority of states. Sales tax is a part of life and is probably the most fair tax that we have in this country. Usually the people who make more money spend more money, and life necessities like groceries are tax free.

Amazon obviously has the infrastructure in place to easily collect and pay in the necessary sales tax in any state it is a part of. The added cost involved to process things will not be huge as they report their income by state on tax returns and other documents. Amazon needs to move it along and stop whining.
 
spyder_flex97 said:
Im in NY and get charged tax from amazon even though there is no amazon physical presence.
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New York taxes you for just breathing. I used to be around real estate and mortgages and holy crap is it expensive to be a homeowner there!.
 
As long as I don't have to pay sales tax when I buy from amazon, I could care less what they have to do
 
A US district judge ruled recently that forcing internet companies into turning over purchasers histories is unconstitutional in Colorado. The thought is that it hurts consumers. Another judge ruled exactly the opposite for purchasers in north carolina. This is probably headed to TSCoTUSoA.
 
There are two issues.
1) Texas won't show Amazon how they came up with the tax number.
2) From my understanding, I am sure Amazon has a warehouse in texas which is probably a fulfillment center as another company. Who knows I have never seen a shipment from the Texas Amazon fulfilment center, and I live in texas.. They might only ship OUT of texas from that center. If it is a separate entity, then I am not sure texas can really complain.
 
TechPirate said:
Wow, did any of you guys read what this is about?

If you have a physical presence in a state, you must collect sales tax owed to that state. That's why you have to pay sales tax in California, New Jersey, or Tennessee if you purchase from Newegg.

Amazon has a physical presence in Texas and refuses to collect taxes from customers it owes to the states. Other retailers in Texas must do the same or they face the same penalty.

Amazon is being a baby.
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Its not the same thing. Amazon has affiliates in states not the same things as the egg's warehouses, and offices.
 
good job politician. when they run out of states to be in then they will must move overseas to have cheap labor. soo you're doing a fine job Mr. And Mrs Politician. keep it up. way to go amazon lets show these bastards whos boss. just move to china and india where they appresciates good american company. hey i might be only getting 500 dollars amonth but hey it was better than just a 100 dollars if that than im getting.
 
TechPirate said:
Wow, did any of you guys read what this is about?

If you have a physical presence in a state, you must collect sales tax owed to that state. That's why you have to pay sales tax in California, New Jersey, or Tennessee if you purchase from Newegg.

Amazon has a physical presence in Texas and refuses to collect taxes from customers it owes to the states. Other retailers in Texas must do the same or they face the same penalty.

Amazon is being a baby.
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Or Amazon is trying not to force Texas residents to pay sales tax , which can make quite a difference and in a bid to keep Texas residents happy have decided to pull out of the state entirely thus keeping it sales tax free for customers.

Texas government on the other hand looks like a greedy asshole that is willing to risk hundreds of jobs and a local economy for where its warehouse is built.

Texas is being a giant asshole.
 
canmanone said:
good job politician. when they run out of states to be in then they will must move overseas to have cheap labor. soo you're doing a fine job Mr. And Mrs Politician. keep it up. way to go amazon lets show these bastards whos boss. just move to china and india where they appresciates good american company. hey i might be only getting 500 dollars amonth but hey it was better than just a 100 dollars if that than im getting.
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How is Amazon supposed to move a distribution center to China or India when most of their customers are from the US? Their shipping costs and shipping times would drastically increase.
 
all the crap they sell is already made in china, why not sell from china also?
 
I have no problem paying taxes on things that I purchase online from stores located in Texas. I generally purchase things online from other states to avoid the sales tax and that have a low or no cost shipping change. If the item I want ships from Texas then I will instead buy it from the closest local store. Living in Houston I have no problem finding what I want.

PeaKr said:
Here's a great idea. Why don't states stop pissing off money like it falls freely from the sky. Then they don't have to come up with more taxes, hand out photo radar tickets, or tax us driving on roads or visiting parks that belong to us in the first fucking place. This shit is only going to get worse unless YOU as a voter do something about it. Anti incumbent all the way.
Click to expand...

Houston has red light cameras installed and the voters recently voted to shut them off. I personally voted to keep them and now the city is facing budget shortfalls and those cameras helped prevent that. My wife recieved a ticket from a red light camera and I paid it while she was bitching about it. Don't break the law and you don't have a problem, plain and simple. Taxes build those roads and they wear out and have to be replaced. So what the hell are you going to do about that? Take a bus? Forget about it!
 
eddieck said:
How is Amazon supposed to move a distribution center to China or India when most of their customers are from the US? Their shipping costs and shipping times would drastically increase.
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not really if they can ship in bulk then the shipping will be some what cheaper. im guessing
 
Baditude said:
Houston has red light cameras installed and the voters recently voted to shut them off. I personally voted to keep them and now the city is facing budget shortfalls and those cameras helped prevent that. My wife recieved a ticket from a red light camera and I paid it while she was bitching about it. Don't break the law and you don't have a problem, plain and simple. Taxes build those roads and they wear out and have to be replaced. So what the hell are you going to do about that? Take a bus? Forget about it!
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Right light cameras INCREASE ACCIDENTS. They are REVENUE GENERATION. Why the HELL would you vote to keep them as a citizen?
 
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Amazon not only had physical presence already (distribution center, shipping inside and probably out of state), it was going to expand that physical presence.

And yet Amazon thinks they can bully their way into not collecting any sales tax as is law.

How about all other TX businesses follow that model and NOBODY collect sales tax? Make it part of the 1040 perhaps, self-reported by the tax payer? Worked so well for use/comsumption tax, didn't it?

I love how people jump on the state of TX but oh GOD help the state if they get their revenue by raising other taxes.
Very short-sighted people slamming TX state. And I'm not from TX, live or work there. Just amazed at the ignorance.
 
LONG LIVE AMAZON!!!!
The whole newegg thing...I sometimes ship to someone in a neighboring state and have them bring it to me (I live on the border) to avoid taxes lol.
 
I'm not sure why they opened a distribution center in TX in the first place. They had to know this would happen. I can't think of any states where you can sell stuff in state and not charge sales tax.

This is TX, the state that charges sales tax on MMO's, and has done so for roughly 10 years. This simply is not the same issue was what happened in NY or Colorado

FndTheRver said:
Pretty soon all of these online retailers are going to be located on some carribean island if all the broke ass states start forcing online retailers to charge sales tax.
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BloodDonor said:
this is what makes companies move overseas eventually
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Why would they move overseas? There are states that don't collect sales tax (Washington and NH come to mind), so there's sales tax collection if they're located there, though other taxes are probably much higher. What's more, imported goods often incur tariffs and your Nikon Camera would likely be grey market (e.g. limited warranty support) if they shipped from outside north America.

PeaKr said:
Here's a great idea. Why don't states stop pissing off money like it falls freely from the sky. Then they don't have to come up with more taxes, hand out photo radar tickets, or tax us driving on roads or visiting parks that belong to us in the first fucking place. This shit is only going to get worse unless YOU as a voter do something about it. Anti incumbent all the way.
Click to expand...

TX has no income tax. Sales tax and Property tax pay for almost everything. What's more, this isn't a new tax or even a new way to collect taxes. If you live in CA and you buy from Newegg, you pay sales tax. If you live in NJ and buy from newegg you pay sales tax. If you live in virtually ANY state and buy from Dell, you pay sales tax. If you buy from Directron and live in TX, you pay sales tax. If you think that buy voting in Joe Libertarian you're going to suddenly do away with state taxes, I've got a bridge to sell you.

weuntouchable said:
The turnover from the recent election sure did bring a lot of change. This is a nexus issue, if you have a physical presence in a state you have to collect sales tax in that state to those living in the state. Its like this in the vast majority of states. Sales tax is a part of life and is probably the most fair tax that we have in this country. Usually the people who make more money spend more money, and life necessities like groceries are tax free.
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Sales tax is probably the most regressive tax there is. It hurts lower income people harder than upper income brackets. People who make more do spend more, but they don't spend as much of their check as someone with less money.

Regardless, I agree that in most states, sales tax is part of the bill for living there. In most states, Income tax is too.

weuntouchable said:
Amazon obviously has the infrastructure in place to easily collect and pay in the necessary sales tax in any state it is a part of. The added cost involved to process things will not be huge as they report their income by state on tax returns and other documents. Amazon needs to move it along and stop whining.
Click to expand...

The problem with that is that TX is a huge market and those people could just go to some other site, for example, Buy.com, to get their books, newegg for computer stuff and countless other stores for other items.

My guess is Amazon will pick a fairly low population state to house their distribution center.
 
Houston has red light cameras installed and the voters recently voted to shut them off. I personally voted to keep them and now the city is facing budget shortfalls and those cameras helped prevent that. My wife recieved a ticket from a red light camera and I paid it while she was bitching about it. Don't break the law and you don't have a problem, plain and simple. Taxes build those roads and they wear out and have to be replaced. So what the hell are you going to do about that? Take a bus? Forget about it![/QUOTE]



believe it or not red lights causes more accidents which therefore increases insurance rates for all of us. just think when your approaching a lighted intersection and it turns yellow in which you press on the brake pedal hard and the person behind you didnt notice it cause he was thinking you were going to speed up and run through. he hits you hard and causes bodily injury. car damage. not only to you but to himself. so now the insurance companies have to wrecked cars and two or more people injured. think of the bills from both sides now. hospital bill, increased insurance rates, time off work cause you cant perform 100% of your job. now think about this for a moment. so just to avoid getting a 124 dollar ticket you would slam on your brake and cause all that ive ssaid. something to think about..

this is not about safety all for the citizens. its all about how can the politician that all elect to office get more tax dollars from all of us. this is not going to stop until we have a tax revolt. stop spending soo much of our money and taxing us to death. think about all that are taxed. there is soo much money being collected its not even funny. anyway just my 2cents. ohh way i might be taxed for that 2 cents. sorry
 
Guess I got my 42LD450 just in time, shipped out of the Irving location.
 
Sorry, as a Texan, I side with Texas on this issue, and I shop from Amazon all the time. Texans refuse to tolerate having a state income tax. Therefore much of the state budget comes from sales taxes. No sales taxes, no revenue to the state and thus no services. Since more and more purchases are online, what is supposed to happen for cities and states to generate revenue if there is no online taxation?

People hate income taxes, they hate property taxes, they want to cut taxes on businesses to bring in, or keep jobs, they do not want to pay taxes for online purchases. So then the question is, just where is the money for government to be able to do it job going to come from?
 
Amazon rules. I am glad they are taking a stand to keep costs to the consumer as low as possible.
 
qdemn7 said:
Sorry, as a Texan, I side with Texas on this issue, and I shop from Amazon all the time. Texans refuse to tolerate having a state income tax. Therefore much of the state budget comes from sales taxes. No sales taxes, no revenue to the state and thus no services. Since more and more purchases are online, what is supposed to happen for cities and states to generate revenue if there is no online taxation?

People hate income taxes, they hate property taxes, they want to cut taxes on businesses to bring in, or keep jobs, they do not want to pay taxes for online purchases. So then the question is, just where is the money for government to be able to do it job going to come from?
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that is a question right wingers can't understand. they think tax cuts don't need to be offset and that all taxes are too high. guess texas can raise property taxes more.
 
nutzo said:
Good for Amazon.
I wish more companies would take a stand like this instead of bending over.
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There the ones who bent over...Texas was the one who took the stand. I'm guessing you didn't read the article. Sheisty is what this is for Amazon to do this.
 
Texas was asking for an amount of money that they essentially pulled out of their ass. No business that deserves to exist would give in to that kind of extortion.
 
Amazon can operate in one State and ship to the others tax free.
I agree that these States are eliminating jobs in the process.
 
niconx said:
all the crap they sell is already made in china, why not sell from china also?
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lol right

buy the ball in a cup from the general store on the corner, support american business! :rolleyes:

btw amazon sells pretty much everything...just in case you didn't know. :D
 
One thing I forgot to mention is most of the intersections in the city all recieved crosswalk countdown signs as well. So when your approaching an intersection you see the crosswalk sign counting down to zero. Most of the lights change to yellow about 1 to 2 seconds after the countdown ends then red seconds later. Beleave me the majority of people start slowing down when they see their not going to make it though in time but, alot of dumbasses step on the gas. I did not vote for the cameras the first time around but against them. Once they were installed the city starting counting on that money. You can't just take away the cash cow. Now times are tough after they shut down the cameras and city workers are having to take unpaid days off. No I don't work for the city.
Years ago we didn't have the problems with people running red lights. Oh yhea people didn't drive 50 in a 35 speed limit on the streets like they do now.

BTW the fucking cameras don't cause the accidents, it's the dumbasses driving the cars that have no fucking respect for anyone but themselves. Personally I think they should reinstate them and also make to take a Defensive driving class and not at some fucking comedy club. If you screw up you need to pay the price. Get over it.

Years ago I was involved in a car wreak where this illegal Mexican bitch ran thru a stop sign and totaled my car. NO she didn't have insurance and fled she fled the country. Do you think we should remove all stop signs and red lights? Hell no if I had my way there would be a camera on every stop sign and intersection. After the 3 offences in 5 years you would lose your right to drive. If caught driving illegally maybe you should be shot on sight. Bet you would run that fucker then.


And yes I'm aware that more accidents sometimes happen at these intersections.
 
qdemn7 said:
People hate income taxes, they hate property taxes, they want to cut taxes on businesses to bring in, or keep jobs, they do not want to pay taxes for online purchases. So then the question is, just where is the money for government to be able to do it job going to come from?
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You're presuming the government's "job" actually requires a lot of money... The federal and most state budgets could easily operate at half their current levels if not even less.
 
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