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Old 02-11-2011, 09:27 AM
 
Location: 112 Ocean Avenue
5,706 posts, read 9,630,964 times
Reputation: 8932

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Online retail giant Amazon.com is closing a suburban Dallas distribution center and scrapping plans to expand Texas operations after a dispute with the state over millions of dollars in sales tax, an executive informed employees Thursday in an e-mail obtained by The Associated Press.

APNewsBreak: Amazon closing TX center amid dispute - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110210/ap_on_bi_ge/us_amazon_sales_tax_dispute - broken link)

Taxes taxes taxes. Fees Fees Fees. It never ends.
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Old 02-11-2011, 10:58 AM
Bo Bo won $500 in our forum's Most Engaging Poster Contest - Tenth Edition (Apr-May 2014). 

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Location: Ohio
17,107 posts, read 38,111,983 times
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The state has a point, IMO. It's currently possible for Texans to order something "sold by Amazon" from Amazon and receive it the next day with standard shipping when it's shipped out of that Irving distribution center. How can that NOT be a business presence?

I wonder which would be the less popular option... Amazon charging sales tax only in Texas or closing that distribution center and putting 1,000 workers out of a job? My guess is that more people would gripe about the sales tax for Texas than they will about the job losses.
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Old 02-11-2011, 12:32 PM
 
Location: Abilene, Texas
8,746 posts, read 9,032,916 times
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That stinks! I feel bad for the Texas employees that will have to relocate or loose their jobs. On a personal level, I order a lot of stuff from Amazon and I often get stuff from that Irving distribution center so I guess deliveries after April will take a little longer. I agree with the state of Texas on this one. Any business here has to pay sales taxes.

From the article it says: "Amazon has been the target of numerous lawsuits filed by states seeking sales taxes on online purchases made from within their borders". It's going to be very hard for Amazon to find any state that will allow them to operate in their state without collecting sales taxes. IMO, this is a stupid move on Amazon's part.
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Old 02-11-2011, 01:24 PM
 
Location: San Antonio, TX - Displaced Michigander
2,068 posts, read 5,967,438 times
Reputation: 839
Seems to me that the state is on solid ground in this dispute. It is sad though for all the people who will be out of work because of this.
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Old 02-11-2011, 02:10 PM
 
Location: America
5,092 posts, read 8,848,066 times
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Good riddance. Don't let the doorknob hit you on the way out.
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Old 02-11-2011, 04:21 PM
 
Location: 112 Ocean Avenue
5,706 posts, read 9,630,964 times
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Amazon's beef is also with the amount of uncollected taxes the state says it owes. The $269 million seems to be some arbitrary number the comptroller pulled out of his/her rear end. They need to show Amazon just how they arrived at that number.
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Old 02-11-2011, 05:21 PM
 
634 posts, read 1,448,334 times
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Apparently the governor has no problem with Amazon not paying sales taxes.

Rick Perry: Amazon decision wasn't the right one | J.P. Freire | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner (http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/02/rick-perry-amazon-decision-wasnt-right-one - broken link)
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Old 02-11-2011, 06:27 PM
Bo Bo won $500 in our forum's Most Engaging Poster Contest - Tenth Edition (Apr-May 2014). 

Over $104,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum and additional contests are planned
 
Location: Ohio
17,107 posts, read 38,111,983 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nomadic9460678748 View Post
Apparently the governor has no problem with Amazon not paying sales taxes.

Rick Perry: Amazon decision wasn't the right one | J.P. Freire | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner (http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/02/rick-perry-amazon-decision-wasnt-right-one - broken link)
I'm amazed that something like that would happen without the governor's input.
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Old 02-11-2011, 08:11 PM
 
5,760 posts, read 11,546,851 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bo View Post
I'm amazed that something like that would happen without the governor's input.
Only way it could happen.

Else they would slip Perry a bribe -- er, ah -- contribution. He would sell Texas out -- real salesman, there -- and let Amazon pass.

Why is it that folks who would vote themselves a sales tax increase to build millionaires and billionaires stadiums, would complain that some corporation (Amazon, in this case) is being busted for totally goatfing the state and not paying ANY sales tax?

Plenty of real bookstores (small stores, small chains, Half-Price Books, Borders, Barnes and Nobles, on and on) ALL collect and pay ALL the sales tax they are required, but Amazon has knowingly been breaking the law -- which is a serious go-to-jail felony for any of us real people -- and the presentation is that the criminal's employees may lose their jobs?
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Old 02-12-2011, 03:39 PM
 
Location: Texas
475 posts, read 1,094,151 times
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Technically, consumers are supposed to pay sales tax when purchasing items. For retail stores, this is done at the point of sale. The store is in effect collecting the tax on the state's behalf and then passing it along. For online stores, if they have a physical presence in the state, they are supposed to collect. If they don't, consumers are still responsible for paying it to the state directly... most don't of course.

Whatever the merits of Amazon's distribution center needing to collect tax, isn't the bill sent by the comptroller for past transactions? Amazon cannot go back to consumers and say,now pay up on the sales tax. The best the state can do is to force the company going forward to collect the tax -- a mute point since they are now moving out.

A bigger question is why it took a Dallas newspaper to bring this to the Comptroller's attention in 2008 and until now for the Comptroller to send the bill.

Last edited by datacity; 02-12-2011 at 03:53 PM..
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