The end of the internet sales tax loophole

Awhile ago I wrote a post about how expensive it is to shop online in Europe, especially when compared to the United States. The disparity had less to do with the exchange rate and more to do with the fact that virtually no one pays sales tax on internet purchases in the states…. but, it looks like that tax loophole is about to be closed. Recognizing that defeat is inevitable, Amazon has switched sides and is now a proponent of collecting sales tax from companies that have ANY kind of physical presence in a state, so distribution centers count, as does R&D.

So there you go. End of cheap internet shopping… and I’m inclined to not complain. Many states are flat out broke, hopefully they’ll use the extra cash to fund social programs that were slashed in recent years.