What part of "Interstate Commerce" does our state government not understand? Amazon.com is not based in New York. In the long run, Congress must fix this. Given the size of the "i-economy" (or is it economy 2.0), there will be taxation. However, having 50 different tax sales rates (not counting municipalities like NYC that have sales taxes) is untenable even for the large retailers. It is a nightmare for small ones. Therefore there should either be a nation-sales tax, which bars state sales taxes, or taxes will be set only according the home state of a business.

If Albany cares about our deficit, they should stop bribing New Yorkers, and worse, special interests, with taxpayer money.

The Amazon Tax

New York Sun Editorial
May 22, 2008

Just in time for Father's Day and the summer beach reading season, Governor Paterson and his allies in the State Senate and Assembly are taking aim at New York's readers, imposing a new sales tax on books bought from the online retailer Amazon.com. New Yorkers who have bought books on Amazon recently are seeing the notice, "Important Messages: Due to a new law recently passed by the State of New York we are required to collect NY sales taxes on taxable items sold by Amazon.com on or after June 1st, 2008. If your order is placed prior to June 1st, your Order Total may not include an estimate of NY sales taxes, but those taxes may still be charged if your order is readied for shipment on or after that date."

http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-amazon-tax/76865/