The table was turned on Wal-Mart. Amazon.com is undercutting the retail giant because online sales are tax free in most states. The way the law is written, According to Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, a 1992 Supreme Court ruling, companies are only required to collect sales taxes from their customers when they have a presence in the state in which they reside. If you buy something from the Web site of a company that has physical stores nearby, you’ll most likely have to pay taxes. When you shop at online-only stores, you pay tax only if the store has substantial operations in your state. Since Amazon’s headquarters are in Seattle, you have to pay taxes if you live in Washington State, and because it has warehouses or other facilities in Kentucky, Kansas, and North Dakota, you’ve got to pay taxes there, too.(source)
Amazon.com is only doing what Wal-Mart has done to local mom and pop stores for 20 years. The retail giant consistently could use their “tax benefit” to lower prices and force their smaller competition out of business and become the only game in town.
Now Wal-Mart is crying foul, saying that it is unfair for Amazon to have such a competitive advantage. I guess Wal-Mart will no longer be pitting city vs city and town vs. town in regards to which slate of politicians will give them the largest tax break….don’t hold your breath.
http://www.politicususa.com/en/wal-mart-versus-amazonDo you think Amazon should be taxed? I buy from them almost daily, so obviously I don't want to be taxed. But the writer brings up a good point: if taxed, states could afford to "hire a few teachers, firemen and police don’t you think?" But the flip side is that they'd lose the price advantage.