3 ms·
"The thing is, Jeff, that we are Californians. Paying taxes to our state benefits us and our family. If we didn’t have you, we would shop more at local retailer
by fleitz 15y ago
"The thing is, Jeff, that we are Californians. Paying taxes to our state benefits us and our family. If we didn’t have you, we would shop more at local retailers that DO pay taxes in California and DO reinvest in our local area. The more successful you are, the less our money stays in the area and the fewer funds we have for our local infrastructure."
If Amazon is detrimental to CA residents than as a CA resident why would they put Amazon affiliate links on their site in the first place? Aren't they helping Amazon to be successful? The argument seems inconsistent. They seem to only have adopted this view only after being kicked off the program, if they were still on I'm sure we'd see no open letter regarding not collecting CA sales tax.
Also, if a CA resident buys something from Amazon and doesn't pay CA sales tax doesn't the sales tax money remain with the consumer which means there is no difference for money staying in the community and being available for community investment. What I mean by this is if a CA resident buys a TV from Amazon and saves $200 because they evaded tax, then the person still has $200 to go buy coffee from a local retailer.
- calloc 15y agoThat person still owes the state that tax, that they don't pay their fair tax is the bigger issue.
- andreaPG 15y agoflietz, nice points but a bit facetious. Of course I only wrote the post because CA's law and Amazon's response directly affect our site. I might have thought it but not taken the time to write it if it wasn't so personal. Amazon is a net good, I think. It's made products from anywhere available to anywhere readily, reliably and cheaply. It also had created a wonderful ecosystem for small businesses. This is why we chose to affiliate our site with Amazon. That said, there's no question that Amazon's success further decimated / continues to decimate small independent booksellers and other retailers who contributed more readily to regional economies - creating local jobs, supporting local events, paying local sales tax, etc. Your local consumer may have more money for local coffee if she doesn't pay sales tax, but her local government has less. Beyond that, her local economy has less from any profit on the TV going into circulation in Washington State rather than staying with a locally-owned business. That said, I value Amazon's right to compete with local businesses, and the value and innovation their success brings to me, my city, our nation, and the world at large. Whether or not you agree with sales tax is one question - the one addressed by your points above. But if it exists for some, how is it fair for it not to exist for all? (The argument that the consumer is expected to pay it either way is not a valid point - the reality is the consumer is escaping it with one retailer and coughing it up at another.)
- fleitz 15y agoI'm not a lawyer, but would incorporating an S-corp in another state not solve your issues with Amazon and the CA law?
- jpadkins 15y agoI don't think she is trying to avoid the taxes and stay in business. I think she wants CA to receive the taxes and have local retailers on a level playing field.