Amazon to collect sales tax nationwide

Starting April 1, Amazon, after years of fighting the issue in the courts, will now collect sales taxes from purchases in all of the 45 states nationwide that have a state sales tax.

Today, without any fanfare, Amazon added four new states—Hawaii, Maine, Idaho, and New Mexico-to its list of states that adds sales tax per purchase.

The only states that remain unaffected are those without sales levies: Alaska, Delaware, Oregon, Montana and New Hampshire.

For years, Amazon has been resisting the implementation of sales tax collection, relying on a 1992 ruling which prevented out-of-state retailers being forced to pay sales tax if they did not have a physical presence in a state. The Supreme Court case, Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, since gave online retailers an advantage, to the detriment of both the state and brick-and-mortar stores.

Amazon and other e-tailers have likely concluded that they cannot win continued and protracted legal battles with almost every state in the United States. Or, with Amazon’s expansion into brick and mortar stores across the country, perhaps adding sales tax to purchases is inevitable.

Amazon to collect sales tax nationwide

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