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Is The E-Commerce State Tax Strategy The Right One?

Written by Evan Schuman
June 6th, 2008

New York State has started pushing to collect sales tax from e-tailers that have no physical presence in the state, prompting Amazon and Overstock to fight back. But as this BusinessWeek story describes, e-tailers are fighting back with different legal strategies.

All are hoping against the odds that other states don’t pull the same revenue-generating attempt. If New York gets legal greenlights, several more states will quickly mimic its efforts, leading to a flood of almost every state within two years. If it’s going to happen, better it happen quickly. With one or two states, consumers will feel the tax pain and will look elsewhere. When it’s universal, though, it will blend into that amorphous cost of doing business and will cease changing behavior.

Posted in E-Commerce, Payment Systems, Software
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