New York to see new sales tax for Amazon, other online purchases

In a blow to the online retailing community, a judge in New York struck down two lawsuits by Amazon and Overstock, giving a new state tax code, which would require online retailers (such as Amazon) to collect taxes from their customers, the green light:

Things are not looking good for Amazon and other online retailers who have been avoiding collecting sales taxes from customers, and for customers who have avoided paying them. A fairly new New York state tax law—dubbed the "Amazon Tax"—has been given the green light as a judge dismissed two lawsuits alleging that the law is unconstitutional. The judge said the law isn’t unfairly targeted at certain retailers, and that online retailers who make a decent chunk of money off of New York residents should help shoulder the burden of tax collection.

Read the entire post from Ars Technica: Sales tax holiday may be over for Amazon

How will this affect the sale of ebooks in New York? If digital content like ebooks is also taxed, I can imagine the piracy of such products to increase. Furthermore, if New York goes ahead with this plan, it will likely create a domino-effect among other states and before long, we’ll all be paying state taxes on purchases made online.

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