| Online Giant Looks to Avoid Sales Taxes
by Brian Leubitz
Amazon has been publicly piling money into a campaign fund to halt the new legislation that would force them to collect sales taxes. But, if they could avoid a big fight with California's brick and mortar retailers by pulling a quick deal, they'd prefer it. One of the ways they've done that in a few other states is to promise some jobs in the state as long as they aren't taxed. Queue the rumors of a deal here:
While discussions are still preliminary, sources said legislative leaders have received an Amazon-inspired plan that would give the online retailer a two-year moratorium on the new tax. In return, Amazon would bring 7,000 jobs to the state, these sources said.(SacBee)
Obviously, the retailers are none too pleased, with good justification. They are facing an uphill battle against a company that has a 8-9% price advantage right off the top. Whether this actually amounts to a) any new jobs or b)
The problem with this is that Amazon is just shifting jobs from state to state for these deals. It is a race to the bottom, while brick and mortar retailers continue to lose out, and our main streets continue to look bleaker and bleaker. |
