Why are we charged sales tax on internet sales?

Question

I regularly shop on amazon.com and just a couple of days ago I noticed sales tax added to my order. I asked them about it and got a canned response saying, to the effect, that they are required to charge sales taxes to orders shipped to New York State.

But amazon.com is not located in New York State!

Didn't this country fight a revolution against England leading to its independence because of, among other things, "taxation without respresentation"?

I'm trying to learn more about this scheme. I figured there would be layers of legalese to confuse the average citizen so I wonder if anyone has more information on this. Especially if states in general, New York State specifically, has the right to tax goods and services purchased in another state? Especially in states such as Delaware who have no sales tax!

Answer 1

You are charged sales tax if the company you are buying from has any physical presence in your state.  That's not necessarily headquarters, could be a retail store or warehouse.

Often when you buy through amazon.com you are actually buying from some other company that lists their products on amazon.

Answer 2

"Taxation without representation" isn't applied here. The idea of that is you can't tax someone without having a say in what happens.

The tax your are being charged is New York State sales tax, and that money goes to the state. If you live in New York State and you buy something from anywhere and the state charges you tax, then that's fine. You have a voice in this state and can vote and talk to politicians about this practice.

New York State realized that there is potential for more money if they tax people based on online sales. I have a feeling other states will do this as well. It does seem legal since the business is selling something to a person INSIDE the state, thus sales tax can be applied.

We may not like it, but it's the way of the future. With each new innovation, such as online shopping, comes a price, such as sales tax on out of state goods.