If you’re wondering where Amazon stands on the collection of sales taxes for your online purchases, here’s the scoop. Amazon issued a press release yesterday confirming its support for federal legislation introduced this morning by United States Senators Richard Durbin (D-Illinois), Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., known also as the “Marketplace Fairness Act.”
The bill would close a legal loophole that allows online retailers to avoid paying state sales taxes that brick-and-mortar stores must remit. But the bill exempts online retailers with less than $500,000 in annual sales.
Amazon has opposed legislation in several states to collect online sales taxes because of the complexity created by a state-by-state approach.
“Amazon strongly supports enactment of the Enzi-Durbin-Alexander bill and will work with Congress, retailers and the states to get this bi-partisan legislation passed,” said Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice-president of global public policy, in a statement. “It’s a win-win resolution — and as analysts have noted, Amazon offers customers the best prices with or without sales tax.”
Here’s the guts of Amazon’s press release:
SEATTLE, Nov 09, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today confirmed its strong support for the federal bill introduced this morning by United States Senators Enzi, Durbin, and Alexander, that would create a constitutional framework for collecting sales tax online.
“Amazon strongly supports enactment of the Enzi-Durbin-Alexander bill and will work with Congress, retailers, and the states to get this bi-partisan legislation passed,” said Paul Misener, Amazon vice president, global public policy. “It’s a win-win resolution – and as analysts have noted, Amazon offers customers the best prices with or without sales tax.”
If enacted, the Enzi-Durbin-Alexander bill will allow states to require out of state retailers to collect sales tax at the time of purchase and remit those taxes on behalf of customers, and it will facilitate collection on behalf of third party sellers. Thus, this bill will allow states to obtain additional revenue without new taxes or federal spending and will make it easy for consumers and small retailers to comply with state sales tax laws.