Online retail giant Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) makes the assertion that it IS collecting sales taxes nationwide on purchases, after U.S. President Donald Trump seemingly took a swipe at the internet juggernaut suggesting otherwise on Wednesday.
As of April 1, reports say, Amazon began collecting sales taxes on purchases across the country, with the exception of states that don't have sales taxes: Alaska, Delaware, Oregon, Montana and New Hampshire, and those states, as well as others, are the ones the poorer for it.
The National Conference of State Legislatures estimates that states lost out on $23.3 billion in revenue in 2012 due to their inability to collect sales taxes from online purchases.
How businesses charge taxes or web or catalogue purchases – or don’t – was the subject of a 1992 Supreme Court case. The judge ruled in that case that states couldn't require retailers to collect sales taxes unless they had a physical presence in the same place where the buyer is located.
Major online retailers such as Amazon fall more and more under that rule by building data centers, warehouses and other facilities in multiple locations. Prior to April 1, Amazon was collecting taxes from a majority of states.
With respect to an "internet tax," states and localities can't levy taxes on access to the web.
The Internet Tax Freedom Act, which keeps states from collecting taxes on internet service, became permanent when former President Barack Obama signed a bill that included this provision into law.
Amazon moved into the final trading hour on Wednesday by gaining $11.59, or 1.2%, to $988.38.
