7 ms·

Roads, utilities, buildings have to be inspected by fire dept, etc.

rprasad 15y ago
I wasn't aware that Amazon has developed teleportation technology that avoids using roads to deliver purchased goods. No wonder they've been doing so well.
- anigbrowl 15y ago
  UPS, Fedex, etc. already pay property and gasoline and vehicle taxes. Those externalities are accounted for. For those downvoting comments above, doing so isn't going to alter that fact.
  - pbreit 15y ago
    The fact is they _are_ consuming resources in the various states their customers reside.
  - dkrich 15y ago
    Once again, every brick and mortar pays a for-profit for nearly every service that enables it to do business, so that argument does not hold water.
  - enjo 14y ago
    Wouldn't that mean that brick and mortar folks are being doubly taxed? After all they are paying taxes to maintain that infrastructure in addition to what Fedex and the like are paying.
- rprasad 15y ago
  The Quill decision was largely premised on the lack of contact between the catalog company and customers in the state--that is, such contacts were so infrequent (i.e., less than double-digits a month) that it would be unfair to impose any sales tax obligation on them (the "substantial nexus" requirement). The same cannot be said of Amazon; it regularly sells to hundreds, possibly thousands of (insert state here) customers each day. This is more than sufficient to establish a sufficient nexus to Colorado so as to justify the imposition of a sales tax. Note that if you read the decision, the key issue is not whether a state can impose a sales tax on out-of-state retailers (it cannot, even without physical presence, if the substantial nexus test is met), but whether the state law unfairly discriminated against out-of-state retailers (which it does, the law is poorly written). The reason Amazon folded against New York and California is because it knew both states were willing to take this all the way to the Supreme Court, and it knew that if that happened, it would lose.

I wasn't aware that Amazon has developed teleportation technology that avoids using roads to deliver purchased goods. No wonder they've been doing so well.

anigbrowl 15y ago
UPS, Fedex, etc. already pay property and gasoline and vehicle taxes. Those externalities are accounted for. For those downvoting comments above, doing so isn't going to alter that fact.
- pbreit 15y ago
  The fact is they _are_ consuming resources in the various states their customers reside.
- dkrich 15y ago
  Once again, every brick and mortar pays a for-profit for nearly every service that enables it to do business, so that argument does not hold water.
- enjo 14y ago
  Wouldn't that mean that brick and mortar folks are being doubly taxed? After all they are paying taxes to maintain that infrastructure in addition to what Fedex and the like are paying.
rprasad 15y ago
The Quill decision was largely premised on the lack of contact between the catalog company and customers in the state--that is, such contacts were so infrequent (i.e., less than double-digits a month) that it would be unfair to impose any sales tax obligation on them (the "substantial nexus" requirement). The same cannot be said of Amazon; it regularly sells to hundreds, possibly thousands of (insert state here) customers each day. This is more than sufficient to establish a sufficient nexus to Colorado so as to justify the imposition of a sales tax. Note that if you read the decision, the key issue is not whether a state can impose a sales tax on out-of-state retailers (it cannot, even without physical presence, if the substantial nexus test is met), but whether the state law unfairly discriminated against out-of-state retailers (which it does, the law is poorly written). The reason Amazon folded against New York and California is because it knew both states were willing to take this all the way to the Supreme Court, and it knew that if that happened, it would lose.