Starting on April 1st Amazon will collect state sales taxes nationwide, the only states that will be excluded are Alaska, Delaware, Oregon, Montana and New Hampshire as they do not have state sales taxes. This isn’t actually a huge deal as previously Amazon collected sales taxes in 41 states and the District of Colombia. The only real change is that Amazon will begin collecting sales tax in New Mexico, Hawaii, Maine and Idaho.
Hat tip to CNBC
When they started charging tax in my state it became a bit of a PITA because I had to start looking for third party sellers since they are often cheaper than Amazon. Sometimes Ebay beats them on price now as well.
You realize that legally you are obligated to pay taxes on online purchases. Yes, it is rarely enforced, but still not reporting tax free purchases at tax time is technically breaking the law.
Still no sales tax in Oregon, as it should be in every state that doesn’t want to tax a higher share of poor incomes than the wealthy.
Congratulations Amazon, now I have no reason to keep my $99/yr Prime membership when I can now buy the same shit at my local big box stores and have them match the online price!
If you feel like spending 45 minutes to get the same results, sure. The convenience of Amazon is huge, nevermind their selection or ability to find niche products. It’s so satisying ordering crap in minutes, right when I think of it. Time is valuable to me too. Same time I usually shop abit for stuff if it’s a larger purchase. Amazon is rarely best price anymore, even without taxes. Anything to avoid temptation and wasting time at retail stores.
Exactly. Lets also not forget the wear and tear plus gas. If we’re going to use an increase in tax as a justification for shopping locally then surely one must factor vehicle expenses into the equation. Seriously, if up to 10% is stopping you from shopping on Amazon then it’s probably offset by the cost of shopping locally, unless you live really close to where you shop.
I have nothing against shopping locally either. But the bottom line is my time and money are in limited supply and I have to make the best decisions I can at this point in my life.
No, in case you haven’t been to your big box store lately, they’ve stopped or greatly reduced carrying inventory of some stuff that people have been buying from Amazon for ages. So if you last looked around a big box store a year or two ago, you might be unpleasantly surprised how fewer things in certain categories you can buy there now compared to just a year or two ago, and it’s all due to people like you (and me) shopping for those things on Amazon up to now.
And of course now if you give up Prime you’ll not just give up free shipping, you’ll also be giving up Prime Video. So whether you buy DVDs on Amazon (which you can mostly no longer at Best Buy) or you use Prime Video (which requires you maintain your Prime subscription), Amazon knows they’ve got you hooked.
I live close to many of the stores I shop at, several of which offer free ship to store as an option. I never cared much for any of the “prime extras” because nearly all TV shows and movies can be acquired at no cost using various download/streaming methods.
The tax will be new for AR as well.
I’m assuming the taxes Amazon collect are remitted back to the individual states where the purchases are originating?
Where else would it go?
Yes, don’t see what else they would do with it?
It would be the state where the purchase was made. The question is that the state where the seller is or the state where the buyer is.
Tax rates are always about the buyer’s location. Amazon decided to do this because they want to be free to open warehouses/offices/stores in every buyer’s state that doesn’t already have some. (That’s what had led them to gradually start collecting sales tax in more than half the country already.)
Amazon started collecting tax for my state several years ago. Since then, they’ve only charged tax on third-party seller purchases when the seller was based in the same state as me. I expect it will work the same way for the newly-taxed states as it has been in the already-taxed states (tax is only on ‘Sold by Amazon.com’ purchases and third-party sellers who are based in your state; out-of-state third-party sellers have no tax collected by Amazon).
This will further reduce my spending at Amazon.
is this something for Amazon only? What about Boxed and Jet?
Yes, this refers to Amazon purchases only. Not sure if it applies to Amazon’s other sites, such as Zappos.
Washington DC 5.75% sales tax started October 2016. Not sure if any tax to the USVI or Puerto Rico.
CA is taxed. I hardly notice it. I am happy to do my tiny part for roads, infrastructure, schools, etc., whatever. Unlike Parasites in high offices.
LOL! Must be nice to have so much money that you don’t even notice Amazon adding 10% to every order.
I just checked my order details on Amz. It is not as simple as I had thought. Most items are untaxed. Certain new items seem to be taxed. For example a $31 order was taxed at $1.16. Happy to do my little part. Hope the money doesn’t go to the parasite billionaires club or for genocides.