Report find $1 billion tax gap caused by Amazon

[Tanuki]

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/trade-shows-events/article/69243-winter-institute-11-report-finds-1-billion-tax-gap-caused-by-amazon.html

..."The report determined that the failure of 23 states plus Washington, D.C. to collect the full sales tax on Amazon sales resulted in a $625.4 million loss in revenue in 2014 to state coffers. The report also found that since the growth of Amazon and other online retailers has resulted in a reduction in demand for retail space, about 100 million sq. ft. of retail space has gone undeveloped--the equivalent of over 30,000 traditional storefronts that the report estimated would have employed 136,000 workers and generated $420 million in property taxes. The combination of lost sales tax revenue and property taxes has led to a $1 billion "tax gap" on state and local governments, the report stated.

“We’re closing schools because [communities] don’t have the money,” Houston said, noting the “red states are hurt the most,” by the tax gap with Missouri holding the top spot, losing $60.2 million in sales tax revenues in 2014, followed by Colorado, Louisiana, and Alabama. The report noted that with more states starting to collect online sales tax, the sales tax gap is likely to close in coming years, but that the property tax gap will continue to grow, something that could result in "serious consequences" for communities that are dependent on commercial property taxes.

Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Center for Local Self-Reliance, who was also on the panel, noted that Amazon is “a company that takes more than it gives back to the community.” Mitchell urged booksellers to assist the Center for Local Self-Reliance and Civic Economics in generating a public dialogue at the local and state levels about the report's findings. Comparing Amazon to the 19th century railroad monopolies before the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887, Mitchell pointed out that Amazon wants to “sell everything” and is using its dominance in the marketplace to obliterate all of its competitors. “You all are the solution,” she said, suggesting that booksellers enlist other organizations, including media, in their communities to heighten awareness of the negative economic impact of Amazon’s business model of “separating commerce from place.”...

[FreeJoe]

1. I can see the complaint about sales tax...

but complaining that fewer stores is costing property tax revenue just seems silly. The less space we commit to retail businesses, the happier I'll be. Localities just need to shift that tax burden away from property taxes to something else. The money is still there.

[Nye Bevan]

2. In CT Amazon now charges sales tax (nt)