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Amazon.com To Collect Indiana 7% Sales Tax In 2014

P

Pardus

Diamond Member
Amazon currently collects sales tax in the states of Kansas, Kentucky, New York, North Dakota, and Washington

Article

INDIANAPOLIS — Amazon.com will begin collecting Indiana’s 7 percent sales tax from customers in the state in 2014, under an agreement announced Monday.

The deal with the online sales company could lead to Indiana bringing in at least $20 million more in annual sales tax revenue.

Gov. Mitch Daniels’ office said Indiana will become the fourth state with such a tax collection agreement with Seattle-based Amazon. It follows a lawsuit by Indianapolis-based shopping mall owner Simon Property Group against the state over the issue and a lobbying push on state legislators by traditional retailers to end what they call an unfair price advantage for online retailers.

The deal doesn’t include any other companies, but Daniels said the state is asking Congress to require all online businesses to collect state sales taxes. Daniels said the status quo of traditional businesses charging sales taxes while few online retailers do so is not fair.

Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president for global public policy, said at a news conference in the governor’s office that the company supported federal legislation requiring all sales tax collections by all online companies.

“It’s the only way to level the playing field for all sellers,” Misener said. “It’s the only way for Indiana to obtain all the sales tax revenue that is already owed.”

State officials agree that the Amazon agreement will mean the collection only of a portion of the sales tax revenue that Indiana should receive. The State Budget Agency estimates uncollected online sales taxes at $75 million a year, while Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said it could be as much as $250 million.

The state’s current policy dates to a 2007 deal with Amazon for it to open its first warehouse in Indiana with the promise that state lawmakers wouldn’t push for online sales tax collection. Amazon now has three distribution centers open in central Indiana and announced plans last summer for a fourth, but hasn’t given details on how many workers it has.

Kenley has testified before a congressional committee in support of a federal law covering online sales tax collections. He said many companies other than Amazon don’t want to give up the competitive advantage in pricing from not collecting the taxes.

“This step forward continues to put more pressure on them,” Kenley said.

Simon Property Group said it was dropping its lawsuit against the state and that Indiana’s deal with Amazon will improve the competitive fairness between traditional and online retailers.

The Indiana Retail Council, which last month launched a legislative lobbying effort on the issue, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Indiana and Amazon officials said the 2014 start of online sales tax collections was meant to give time for Congress to act on the federal proposal.

“We want to get it done this year, we’re hopeful,” Misener said. “But we may need 2013 to accomplish it.”

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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So they have a physical presence in Indiana. I don't see what the big deal is then. They'll collect sales taxes like any other business that has a physical presence in a State.

The States still have no business collecting sales taxes on interstate commerce per the Constitution unless Congress acts. You know, that paper they've never read.
 
They just opened 2 more facilities in Indiana over the last year under the condition they would not have to collect sales tax. But, as the article states, the governor negotiated with them further and they agreed to do it starting in 2014 because they (Amazon) feel that there will be federal legislation by then which will level the playing field for all online vendors.
 
Get used to it, it's going to become the norm in every state. The days of evading state taxes via inet purchases are coming to an end. Nobody ever claims them.
 
i wouldnt really have a problem if they wanted to collect sales tax everywhere, theyve said for a while that they just want it simplified. id still buy from amazon, the convenience alone is huge, even if it ended up costing me another 7% on top of their price.
 
and so it starts... end if e-commerce as we know it... fits very well with the rest of American self destruction agenda!!
 
xSauronx said:
i wouldnt really have a problem if they wanted to collect sales tax everywhere, theyve said for a while that they just want it simplified. id still buy from amazon, the convenience alone is huge, even if it ended up costing me another 7% on top of their price.
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I shop at Amazon because of sales tax savings. If they start charging me sales tax, I will buy local. And I will cancel Amazon Prime. Until then I will take advantage of the sales tax loophole.
 
ponyo said:
I shop at Amazon because of sales tax savings. If they start charging me sales tax, I will buy local. And I will cancel Amazon Prime. Until then I will take advantage of the sales tax loophole.
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Even with sales tax added, you're still going to save significant money going to Amazon for many things.
 
I cut my amazon shopping when I moved to Seattle - Amazon is based in Seattle so I had to pay sales tax.

Ahtough it's not as cheap as before, it's still the best place to buy a lot of things.
 
ponyo said:
Nope. Amazon is not that cheap. Instant gratification makes up for any small savings. Not to mention easy return at B&M stores.
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see i think the convenience is worth it. i dont have to drive to a store to get....most things aside from food. need a shoe rack, kitchen stuff, computer stuff, shoes, some clothing, whatever...i click a button and have it in a couple of days. i didnt have to drive to 3 stores to price check, i didnt have to drive at all, or wait in line, i dont have to try and remember what i needed when i go shopping, i whip out my phone, click a button, end of story.

here in this small town we have a couple of grocery stores and a wal mart, 20 miles away is a mall, a target, better grocery stores, better beer stores...if i drive 20 miles to shop its to buy food or booze. anything else i can get with the click of a button. i rarely have an item to return to amazon, so the only pain there is getting the hit on return shipping, but that happens so rarely for me that i dont really care about it that much.

bonus: if im out, see something i like and want to price check, i scan it from the amazon app. as it stands this is the only time where i care about sales tax so ill order from amazon is the price is even just comparable. if amazon charged tax i *might* get something in the store...if i want to wait in line to get it.
 
ponyo said:
Nope. Amazon is not that cheap. Instant gratification makes up for any small savings. Not to mention easy return at B&M stores.
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Even if savings are small, my Amazon Rewards card will make it worth my while. 🙂

For some things, even if the price is the same or more, the convenience is worth it. For example, chemicals for my hot tub -- much easier to get them from Amazon rather than drive to the nearest store.
 
Amazon is supposedly looking to open a development/research center in my city, and if they do Amazon will also be charging sales taxes in MA.
 
Ugh, I've been looking for a group of people to restart a prime membership with...my old crew of people are slacking, and it's up in 2 weeks. 🙁
 
ponyo said:
Nope. Amazon is not that cheap. Instant gratification makes up for any small savings. Not to mention easy return at B&M stores.
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Small savings?
Do you actually know what anything costs?

And Amazon returns are easier.
You just click the button on your account, print out the sheet, and stick it to the box.
With B&M stores you need the original receipt, stand in line forever (cuz you arent really a customer if you are returning stuff) argue with and verbally threaten the teenage moran to get him to take the return, swipe the original credit card (assuming you remembered to bring it) pay a 15 percent restocking fee, and then make the long ass drive back home.

Nope, Amazon is considerably better in almost everything, except fresh groceries.
 
shortylickens said:
Small savings?
Do you actually know what anything costs?

And Amazon returns are easier.
You just click the button on your account, print out the sheet, and stick it to the box.
With B&M stores you need the original receipt, stand in line forever (cuz you arent really a customer if you are returning stuff) argue with and verbally threaten the teenage moran to get him to take the return, swipe the original credit card (assuming you remembered to bring it) pay a 15 percent restocking fee, and then make the long ass drive back home.

Nope, Amazon is considerably better in almost everything, except fresh groceries.
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Of course I do. Amazon is rarely the cheapest. They're competitive, but they're not the cheapest. Amazon is the Newegg of general merchandise. Good prices but slowly moving up higher. Amazon does have excellent customer service. Probably the best online customer service.

Amazon returns easier? Yeah if you like paying for return shipping. Stuff I would normally return to B&M stores I normally keep when ordered from Amazon because of the return shipping costs. If I'm that cheap about not wanting to pay return shipping, you don't think I know how much items cost elsewhere? I have two 3DS games I bought for my daughter I still haven't returned to Amazon. I paid $34 for the two games at Amazon. I paid $10.69 including tax at Best Buy for the two same games on sale couple days later. That's almost $24 difference. It's going to be $19 savings after I pay the return shipping back to Amazon. I have til end of this month to ship it back to Amazon. I'm using USPS to return it because it's cheaper than prepaid UPS ground shipping. Yes, I'm a cheap bastard fighting over $1 extra at UPS.

Returns at Costco is free. And Costco will even refund me shipping charge 100% if I ordered from Costco.com. Same with Wal-Mart. Or it used to be when I ordered online and had to return it to the Wal-Mart B&M store. I just hate buying from Costco or Wal-Mart because of the tax.
 
DesiPower said:
and so it starts... end if e-commerce as we know it... fits very well with the rest of American self destruction agenda!!
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Uhhh, hello? Anybody in there?

If we let Amazon continue on it's current path, that would be a self destruction agenda for the country.

You do know that Amazon takes away more business opportunities for other people, than they make up for in jobs within their company, right?
 
Nintendesert said:
So they have a physical presence in Indiana. I don't see what the big deal is then. They'll collect sales taxes like any other business that has a physical presence in a State.

The States still have no business collecting sales taxes on interstate commerce per the Constitution unless Congress acts. You know, that paper they've never read.
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You don't seem to need a physical presence anymore to collect taxes because EA collects them on NY digital sales. DIGITAL!

That 'it's not fair' argument is BS. You buy something at the mall do you pay $10 to ship it + $5 in taxes? NO.
 
cubby1223 said:
Uhhh, hello? Anybody in there?

If we let Amazon continue on it's current path, that would be a self destruction agenda for the country.

You do know that Amazon takes away more business opportunities for other people, than they make up for in jobs within their company, right?
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How about all the 'well' paying jobs they create via shipping vrs the minimum wage jobs shopping malls create?
 
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