We retired Tax Justice Blog in April 2017. For new content on issues related to tax justice, go to www.justtaxesblog.org
Starting Monday February 1st, Amazon.com will begin collecting sales tax from its customers in Colorado. Once this happens, the company will be collecting sales tax in a total of 28 states—including 19 of the 20 most populous states in the country. All told, 84 percent of the country’s population will live in a state where Amazon.com collects sales tax.
Putting aside the four states that levy neither a state nor local sales tax, that leaves just 18 states, and the District of Columbia, where Amazon is refusing to collect and remit the sales taxes owed by its customers: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming.
For more on this issue, see the detailed discussion (and animated map) that we released at the start of last year’s holiday shopping season.