Sept. 15 will be a date that will live in infamy. It will be the day that Amazon will start to collect sales tax from California residents.
For many loyal Amazon customers, it came as a shock that the retail giant was the target of a new California law requiring online retailers to charge sales tax.
For years, Amazon has avoided paying sales tax through a variety of loopholes. Gov. Jerry Brown’s new sales tax law is designed to stop Amazon’s former habits completely.
It is absolutely astonishing to me that Amazon has avoided paying sales tax for so many years.
You, me and everyone else in the U.S. has to pay sales tax (excluding certain food items).
Why should Amazon, a company whose CEO is worth nearly $20 billion, be exempt from paying such a basic tax?
Amazon’s obligation to charge sales tax, starting next week, is a step in the right direction.
I am tired of excessive, bloated corporations ruling the world and making ludicrous profits.
Even though Amazon may not operate physically in all 50 states, it still has an obligation to reimburse states with the sales tax.
I hope that people will not be up in arms about this issue. I fear they will though, since our society seems to be obsessed with getting the best value or the lowest price on everything.
In their coverage of Amazon’s sales tax law, the Los Angeles Times interviewed a man who bought hundreds of dollars worth of goods, just to avoid paying sales tax the following week.
Excuse me, but isn’t our sales tax only 8.75 percent in Los Angeles county? Last time I checked, it wasn’t that high.
Many Amazon customers have become used to not paying sales tax for such a long time that paying sales tax for online items seems alien.
If sales tax will drive customers away from Amazon next week, then our society has a fundamental problem.
Let’s face it. No one wants to pay tax. No one.
Even though I don’t want to pay taxes, I acknowledge they are necessary so that I can live in a country that can actually do things.
I’m not sure about you, but I like roads, national defense and firefighters.
People’s decisions to buy as much as they can before the sales tax deadline illustrates what people will do to evade the “Taxman.”
George Harrison of The Beatles put it eloquently in his song.
“Should five per cent appear too small, Be thankful I don’t take it all.”
Shane Newell is a sophomore journalism major and the assistant city editor for the Daily 49er.