Posted on 04/27/2011 8:37:04 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
Amazon all but told South Carolina goodbye Wednesday after the online retailer lost a legislative showdown on a sales tax collection exemption it wants to open a distribution center that would bring 1,249 jobs to the Midlands.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestate.com ...
So apparently the income taxes they would have collected from the newly employed people wasn’t enough for them (as opposed to having to pay them unemployment). Nope: MORE MORE MORE!
They closed a distribution center in my town when Texas did something similar. I think Texas was trying to collect taxes on items shipped to other states from it too.
Greedy government thieves thwarted again. Sweet.
They are blaming the Tea Party both in the article and in comments below. It doesn’t sound right, why would the TEA party (Taxed enough already) be in favor of increased taxes?
Amazon shrugged.
I love Amazon for its refusal to collect taxes for the welfare state, unlike most Republicans. What I don’t understand is why they are so adamant about it. All the other online retailers have given in to the State of California, and collect sales taxes from California residents. Amazon does not, when it would be easy to do so. Anyone know why?
One of the anti- TEA Party comments. With 'logic' like that how can one go wrong?!
I don’t know who did what, as I’ve not followed this case.
But ALL financial incentives to companies are based on the theory that government can “steal” jobs away from other locations by making a deal with the company that in essence is a negotiated lower tax than is paid by other companies in the state. Think about the fairness of that for a minute.
Then realize that statistics prove most of these deals never pan out anyway. The state agrees to a reduced tax level but how important is that in the overall scheme of things that determine the viability of a business? How many of us would relocate JUST for a lower tax rate?
There are plenty of examples - such as K-Mart that negotiated a big tax incentive from the state of Michigan - only to file bankruptcy, be acquired by Sears and moved out of the state only 2 years later.
I applaud South Carolina for calling BS on this shell game. Offer conditions that make your state friendly to business and keep government out of the way, and you’ll get all the jobs you would any other way.
There are, in fact, just over 7,000 distinct tax authorities that levy a sales or use tax: 50 states, 1,600 counties, and 4,500 cities.
Compliance is hyper expensive for a business.
Two reasons, the Supreme Court and the 5-10% price edge on competitors who do collect sales tax.
Amazon wanted a tax break and the SC House told them to pound sand. This is why the local Tea Party opposed this, because it's crony capitalism on the state level.
Company? It's the SC taxpayers who would would be getting the tax break; incidentally, they still won't be paying the tax with Amazon now located out of the state.
Principles??? Some people and companies still stand on them.
I shop on the Internet to get the lowest price possible and I always check the location of the store to see if I have to pay sales tax to them. If I have to pay tax, then I buy from a business in another state.
I too try to avoid sales tax whenever possible. I will drive across the Louisiana/Mississippi state line because it saves me almost 3%.
Amazon has something the state doesn’t.
Jobs.
They can find states willing to stand up to Walmart and welcome the jobs.
*facepalm*
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