>http://www.alternet.org/story/66429/
>
>Amazon's Success: Tax Avoidance, Rather Than Savvy Entrepreneurial Spirit
>
>By Dean Baker, TruthOut.org
>Posted on October 30, 2007, Printed on November 1, 2007
>
><snip>
>
> The point here is simple: if someone goes to their neighborhood book
> store, clothes store, toy store, or even Wal-Mart (Amazon sells just
> about everything these days), they generally have to pay sales tax
> on whatever they buy.
No they don't, the retailer has to pay sales tax.
> In some states, the sales tax can be higher
> than 8 percent, costing a family $16 or more on a $200 purchase
>
> But not at Amazon: operating in the 21st century Internet, Amazon
> shoppers can purchase their products without paying state sales tax
> ....
Purchasers don't pay sales tax, retailers do...
> To see how important the tax subsidy is, Amazon earned just under
> $400 million in profits last year, which is approximately equal to 3
> percent of its $13 billion in sales. If we assume an average state
> sales tax of 4 percent on purchases, Amazon's tax subsidy exceeded
> Amazon's profits.
...otherwise it wouldn't be a tax benefit to Amazon.
Dean Baker apparently wants to have it both ways, giving lip service to the myth that the working class pays tax (rather than the employing class) while simultaneously railing against the injustice of one retailer having the unfair advantage of being exempt from this tax that their competitors are liable for.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas