To organize the opposition and urge users to cancel their accounts, nonprofits came together to launch ThinkBeforeYouClickCA.org. "We don't have the kind of money and power Amazon does, but collectively we're asking our people and others in our community who share our values to put their money where their values are," said Nancy Berlin, director of the California Partnership, to the Sacramento Bee.
In the past, online sellers like Amazon didn’t have to collect state sales tax because the Supreme Court ruled that a business without a physical presence in the state was exempt. California loses about $1 billion a year in sales taxes from online purchases, according to a state tax collection agency, the Board of Equalization. But tides changed in June when Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers ordered Amazon to start collecting as part of the budget deal. Of course, Amazon wasn’t sold on the idea. Since the law took effect on July 1, the Seattle-based company has not collected sales tax. Amazon stopped its relationship with California affiliates and spent $3 million last month to collect signatures to repeal the law.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that such tax laws, like California's in this case, are unconstitutional, according to Ned Wigglesworth, a spokesman for the More Jobs Not Taxes committee. “The reasons that we are opposed to this new law is it hurts consumers, it hurts small businesses, it destroys jobs, when we need them for economic recovery,” Wigglesworth told the Daily Californian.
This debate has been playing out across the country. Per the Huffington Post:
Over the past few years, a number of states have proposed or passed internet sales tax legislation, often termed by the media as 'Amazon laws.' The result has been that Amazon has either closed operations, severed affiliate relationships, or not built promised distribution centers, in those states, putting hundreds of people out of work. This has happened in Texas, Colorado, North Carolina and Rhode Island, among others, with The Memphis Business Journal reporting that Tennessee may introduce its own internet sales tax by the end of the year.
Do you support the efforts to boycott Amazon? Let me know in the comments.
