New Op-Ed in E-Fairness Action Kit

This week, the American Booksellers Association added a new template op-ed to the E-Fairness Action Kit (EFACT) on Bookweb.org. The suggested op-ed tackles the irony in Amazon.com's recent decision to sell its Kindle e-reader in Target stores nationwide—how it's making use of physical storefronts in states at a time when it is vigorously opposing sales tax fairness laws. Booksellers are encouraged to adapt the op-ed and send it to their local newspapers.

The op-ed points out the hypocrisy inherent in Amazon.com's strategy to sell its Kindle in Target stores nationwide. "For a company that has long touted a laser-like focus on customer experience and the allure of an Internet browser showroom," the op-ed notes, "this debut in Target is a rich irony, and, also, a sad one. More than any other online retailer, Amazon.com’s obstinate refusal to collect the sales tax mandated by law for online sales has inflicted significant damage on both the businesses of law-abiding Main Street retailers and the local communities that depend on sales tax revenues for vital services.

"For more than a decade, Amazon.com has argued that it has no obligation to collect sales tax for its online sales, despite its direct relationship with in-state affiliates who market and refer sales to Amazon.com, a relationship that establishes both Amazon’s presence in a state and its responsibility to collect sales tax. Now that it is leveraging the benefit of physical retail locations for its bestselling product, Amazon’s claims that it does not benefit from the public services paid for by sales tax are seen quite a different light. And an additional irony is that the Kindle is being sold in Target stores, the company for which Amazon.com calculated and collected sales tax for online sales -- even while claiming that such operations were too burdensome for its own operations."

The op-ed concludes, "The time has come for state governments to stand up for Main Street retailers and local communities by ensuring that there is in-state sales tax equity. As the [New York] Times editorial noted: 'One way or another, it seems inevitable all online retailers will collect sales taxes. The only question is when.'"

To read the op-ed in full, go to the E-Fairness Act Kit; the piece is in the list of resources under each state.