One of the great things about ordering from Amazon is that there’s no sales tax. Clicking “buy now” takes far less time than driving to a 0% sales tax state. Well, not so much if you’re the state government losing out on those juicy taxes. North Carolina is taking that VERY seriously, and is demanding Amazon fork over detailed sales information, the better to slap all those buyers with a bill for dodging taxes. Amazon’s response: See you in court.
Now, to be clear, Amazon is happy to provide information up to a point. They draw the line at sending North Carolina an itemized statement with the content of each person’s purchase. It does seem odd that NC feels they have to know not only that you spent $7.95 on a book, but what the book was about! Amazon is arguing this is an invasion of privacy and unnecessary information.
Luckily, Amazon has friends in their corner:
Brick-and-mortar stores have long lobbied for states to collect sales tax from online retailers, arguing that not doing so gives all e-tailers an unfair pricing advantage. Retailers, however, have also long championed protecting the privacy rights of customers, particularly buyers of books and other content-based material. Chris Finan, head of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, said the demand by North Carolina “is clearly a right to privacy issue.” If North Carolina were successful “it would have a terrible chilling affect” on what people could comfortably buy, Finan said. He noted that Amazon has provided North Carolina with lots of information short of personal data and that “there is simply no justification for demanding to know who bought what.”
The lawsuit, however, “doesn’t impact one way or another on whether Amazon should pay its taxes,” Finan added. He explained that often after requesting private information states tend to back down, and Finan said he hopes that after looking at the demand again, North Carolina will withdraw its request. If the case does go to trial, Finan said, ABFFE would likely “put our oar in the water” in support of Amazon.
For all the flak Amazon gets about the level of information they can access, it is promising to see them acting as responsible stewards. And if you live in North Carolina, keep those invoices, just in case!
