Amazon and Comptroller Talk Sales Tax
Sales taxes on online sales to Texans is the issue. Photo by Liang Shi/KUT NewsAmazon.com is back at the negotiation table with the Texas comptroller’s office.
Talks between the online retailer and the state about paying taxes for online sales fell apart at the end of last year’s legislative session.
Ross Ramsey, executive editor at KUT’s political reporting partner the Texas Tribune, says that the Comptroller argued that the distribution center Amazon maintained in Irving is a physical presence that makes it responsible for collecting taxes from its customers.
But Amazon has argued that its physical locations in Texas aren’t the type that would require it to collect taxes like companies with stores such as Apple or Barnes and Noble.
“The real issue is that a lot of retailers who do have operations in the state, and who do collect sales taxes, look at retailers like Amazon, Overstock and eBay and say, look, if they’re able to sell this stuff and not collect an 8 percent tax and we’re selling it and having to collect that tax, they’ve got a price advantage and that’s not fair,” Ramsey said.
Ramsey says Amazon is attempting to work out tax breaks with many other states and has already established deals in South Carolina, Nevada and California.
Amazon spokesman Scott Stanzel informed KUT News this afternoon that the distribution center in Irving “was closed long ago.”
