I didn't realize it was so soon. Only today did I learn they'll start charging sales tax on orders to CA on 9/15. Heard about it by accident on CNBC. I knew it was coming, just didn't know when. Bunch of recent stories on this: Californians spend freely on Amazon.com before sales tax deadline - Los Angeles Times California residents stocking up at Amazon ahead of sales tax deadline - TechSpot News
Caly has what? A 10% sales tax? I'm not sure, since (THANK GOD!) I don't live there. I can understand where this would be a thorny issue for the brick and mortars out in the PRC who have to pay for bricks, mortar, employees, warehousing, property tax, corporate income tax, navigate through by a dizzying array of legal pitfalls.....and then have to collect the sales tax for the State government on top of all of that. I shop Amazon all the time, and I will continue to do so even if (when) the federal government taxes all internet transactions at the current rate of the ship-to address. It's no different than buying a car in Texas and getting it registered in another state. Oh....you may not have to pay sales tax, but you can bet your bippy that you're going to pay some kind of usage tax. It's still much cheaper, if less convenient, to let your fingers do the swiping than it is to burn (your) gas to go and get the latest widget that you have to have. Amazon will scream like crazy but they still don't have to pay for bricks and mortar, so they'll continue to make their money. The PRC is broke. Actually.....that's not exactly true. They're broke as the Ten Commandments on Bourbon Street and they're up to their earlobes in debt. They're going to shake down everybody and everything to get their paws on as much loot as they can. Period. Amazon? They're just some new rich kid stumbling through a rough poor neighborhood with a pocket full of coins. Nothing new here. I'm only surprised it took this long.
in LA it's 8.25% tax, I guess I will be placing a couple of big orders in the next ten days, then start shopping big ticket items somewhere else! Adios Amazon!
FWIW, those who live in Vancouver, WA (southern part of WA, right next to Oregon) have it great. WA has no state income tax and OR has no sales tax. Live in WA, shop in OR. But, there'd no getting away from WA sales/use tax on a car though, if living in WA.
