No states should be collecting sales tax on the net. If I go to buy something and see Im paying sales tax, I back out and close the window.

Everyone should be required to pay local and state sales tax on internet purchases just like they would on a purchase at the local store. Why have an incentive to destroy local retailers and commerce?

I am torn. On the one hand, Amazon is the 800 lb gorilla of distribution, and they will bring jobs to the area.
On the other hand, the state needs the sales tax revenue. There has to be a compromise here somewhere...

If Amazon gets this treatment, then Newegg should too. As should a lot of other retailers who've set up camp in Memphis to be close to the FedEx hub.

anything i buy from a private corporation with a 'presence' in tennessee is subject to state tax. online sales are putting local retailers out of business. look at borders or circuit city among others. on the other hand, the shipping companies (USPS, UPS, FedEx) are doing great business delivering these goods to and from the distribution centers. that translates into jobs and profits. it's clear that amazon will not open a fulfillment center that collects 9.25% tax on items. so IMO it's a toss-up, and won't be resolved until it is resolved on a federal level. after all, it is an interstate commerce issue.

Of course, part of the problem is that Tennessee relies too heavily on the state sales tax.

My sister runs a small mail order (internet orders also) company in Seymour and has always charged TN residents (or ship to addresses) the sales tax. If Amazon purchases do not get charged sales tax then it should apply to all companies with in-state and out-of-state customers.

Amazon charged me $0.95 tax on the last $9.99 Kindle ebook I bought from them.

I voted no. I did so because the sales tax is hugely regressive and if Amazon's influence is to help bring sanity and fairness to the state, a good way to start might be to stop doing things the old way.

Amazon sells everything now, not just books. If they are not required to charge sales tax, it will pull even more business from local stores. That is just not equitable.

I like to pay as little as possible, but if they operate in-state they should follow the same rules as all other in-state businesses.

Morality of tax avoidance aside, state enforcement of this issue is certainly a job killer. Amazon is closing their distribution center here in Texas because of this very thing.

Link

I just noticed this statement on an Amazon shipment notification email I received yesterday:

Please be aware that this order is subject to Tennessee Use Tax (T.C.A. § 67-6-210) unless an exemption exists under Tennessee law. A sale is not exempt under Tennessee law because it is made through the Internet. Payments of applicable Tennessee use tax may be made through the Tennessee Department of Revenues Website at (link...).

I've never noticed it before, but maybe I just missed it.

"I just noticed this statement on an Amazon shipment notification email I received yesterday"

Hmm. That makes me wonder if Amazon will report the names of its TN customers to the state so that the state can send us sales tax invoices.

I just bought a Kindle copy of A Stillness at Appomattox and Amazon charged me $1.23 in tax. Last March I bought The Rottweiler: Centuries of Service and they charged no tax. In January my copy of Michael Tolliver Lives was taxed at 95 cents.

The only difference I see is the fact that these ebooks come from different publishers.

Tennessee, like other states that impose a sales tax, also taxes the use of property that is brought into the state untaxed when purchased. The purpose of the use tax is not only to raise revenue, but also to protect local merchants, who must collect the sales tax, from unfair competition from out-of-state sellers who do not collect Tennessee’s sales tax. Effective January 1, 2009, the local use tax rate on purchases or downloads of digital videos, digital books, and digital music, as defined in Tenn. Code Ann. Section 67-6-102, is established at 2.50% regardless of the actual local tax rate in effect in the jurisdiction of the user and consumer.