Wal-Mart Versus Amazon, The Battle Of Retail Giants

[ecstatic]

The table was turned on Wal-Mart. Amazon.com is undercutting the retail giant because online sales are tax free in most states. The way the law is written, According to Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, a 1992 Supreme Court ruling, companies are only required to collect sales taxes from their customers when they have a presence in the state in which they reside. If you buy something from the Web site of a company that has physical stores nearby, you’ll most likely have to pay taxes. When you shop at online-only stores, you pay tax only if the store has substantial operations in your state. Since Amazon’s headquarters are in Seattle, you have to pay taxes if you live in Washington State, and because it has warehouses or other facilities in Kentucky, Kansas, and North Dakota, you’ve got to pay taxes there, too.(source)

Amazon.com is only doing what Wal-Mart has done to local mom and pop stores for 20 years. The retail giant consistently could use their “tax benefit” to lower prices and force their smaller competition out of business and become the only game in town.

Now Wal-Mart is crying foul, saying that it is unfair for Amazon to have such a competitive advantage. I guess Wal-Mart will no longer be pitting city vs city and town vs. town in regards to which slate of politicians will give them the largest tax break….don’t hold your breath.

http://www.politicususa.com/en/wal-mart-versus-amazon

Do you think Amazon should be taxed? I buy from them almost daily, so obviously I don't want to be taxed. But the writer brings up a good point: if taxed, states could afford to "hire a few teachers, firemen and police don’t you think?" But the flip side is that they'd lose the price advantage.

[HappyMe]

1. Tax 'em. nt

[PoliticAverse]

2. I'm in NY, Amazon collects sales tax for items I buy from them. n/t

[eShirl]

3. yes, they should add the sales tax to your total when you check out

just like any other store

that said, with tax it will STILL be cheaper for me to have Amazon deliver cases of catfood up to my apartment door than for me to buy them at Walmart and have to lug them back in the car and then up the stairs. (not to mention saving wear and tear on my old knees)

[Riftaxe]

4. Tax them at point of delivery or

point of sale?

[kick-ass-bob]

6. NC has "consumer use tax"

that skirts around the issue of sales tax. We have sales tax, but on the NC tax form, if you purchase online where no sales tax is collected, you are to tally (or use their tables) how much sales tax would have been collected and it is added to your taxes.

[GSLevel9]

5. anyone who wishes to pay EXTRA tax is free to pay EXTRA. nt

[ejpoeta]

7. even if you pay tax it is many times cheaper to buy at amazon than walmart.

i have bought books for my daughter on amazon that were way cheaper than walmart. i live in ny and we pay tax here for it. i do have prime though and don't pay for shipping, but even with shipping on used books i have found great deals.

personally i don't mind paying the tax. i still save money. it did bother me at first when they started collecting it, but it isn't that much and I buy it online because it's cheaper than in the store anyway. So I am saving money. I bought a book for like $8 that they wanted $12 for at walmart. with free shipping, I would have paid tax at the store anyway.

[ieoeja]

8. Amazon still has the advantage of less property & employee overhead.

Wal-Mart has the expense of maintaining and staffing all their stores and warehouses. Amazon has only a handful of locations. So Amazon still has much less overhead.

Collect the tax. The old, established department stores have been collecting sales taxes on their websites since day one of those sites. Amazon can not possibly be that much less competent than Sears, JC Penny, etc.

[tanyev]

9. I'd happily pay tax on my orders from Amazon.

I order from them for the convenience of having exactly what I want shipped to me instead of driving all over the Metroplex trying to find it.