As an example, in Texas they run a distribution plant. They claim it is a subsidiary which itself doesn’t deal with the customer directly, and therefore the facility doesn’t count as “Amazon”. However, when Texas threatened to make them collect sales tax, Amazon announced that they were “not” going to expand that business.
Which implies that Amazon was in control of that business, which means it was a business Amazon had within the boundaries of the state.
Amazon makes those threats because they are scared of what a court would rule. Especially since the last Supreme Court case partly hinged on the “difficulty” of tracking sales tax for all the different states and counties, something that is no longer a factor as it is all easily done by computer, and handled every day by many companies.
It’s time for the congress to legislate this. The internet has changed the landscape; sales taxes are still the method preferred by most people to finance government, and that means collecting sales tax on sales over the internet.
Forcing an entity over which a state has no legal jurisdiction to collect a tax and submit it to that state is a very dangerous proposition and a horrible precedent, a precedent that establishes intrastate jurisdiction for purposes of taxation.
Do you realize the nightmare that even regular citizens experience with the state of New York, let alone high profile, high income individuals? Do you own a second home in another state? Want to pay state income tax to them? That’s the door that will be opened by allowing this.