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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: fernand cloutier who wrote (3836)	5/3/1998 11:09:00 AM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

I understand reading your post that AMZN does not charge sales tax because AMZN has no physical stores anywhere. This tax exclusion is only applicable in a remaing 12 states. Quill corporation was doing the same thing a few years ago and had to pay millions in state sales taxes from prior sales. This will occur to AMZN too and the remaining states are legislating the collection of taxes for sales with or without a physical presence. I wonder how AMZN will raise the cash to pay the sales taxes they have not collected when the states come after them. More junk bonds? Glenn

To: fernand cloutier who wrote (3836)	5/3/1998 11:43:00 AM
From: H James Morris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Fernand, Great topic. I have just begun to do some research on this topic and it appears that, down the road, as Internet commerce becomes a multi-billion (REVENUE not PROFIT) business, all the states will be impacted by their sales tax declines. Amazon, for the foreseeable future, does have a major advantage over their brick & mortar competitors. As I understand it, Amzn currently only has to charge its Washington State customers a sales tax. I found this out because I have homes in Wash and Calif, so obviously I had them ship the book I bought, to my Calif address. Now, on the other hand, I believe B&N has to charge a sales tax to its customer if they have a physical store in the state of its customer. I find this very interesting. If you go back and do some research, you will find that Amzn was sued, by one of its major competitors, on this very issue. The law suit was settled, I believe, by Amzn agreeing not to advertise this competitive advantage any more. Reading between the lines, I think both sides decided that, by taking this issue to court, it would undoubtedly open up Pandora's Box. Until the states get into this topic, the savings the consumer will enjoy will add fuel to Internet commerce. Just imagine going through a major house remodel and ordering all your new appliances delivered to your home from, say AmazonAppliance.com.