Amazon now charges state sales tax in every state that has one.
That means, as of April 1, Amazon started paying state sales taxes in Hawaii, Idaho, Maine and New Mexico, CNN Money reports. The only states where the company doesn’t pay statewide sales taxes are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon, a CNN Money article says.
“Amazon’s decision to comply with states’ collection requests may have to do with the company’s expansive business plan to open more distribution centers across the country to shorten delivery times and to establish more of a physical presence in the retail world with physical grocery stores and brick-and-mortar bookstores,” The Christian Science Monitor reports.
“Their business model has changed,” says Max Behlke from the National Conference of State Legislatures in the CNN Money article.
Competing with other businesses for rapid product deliveries has altered how Amazon operates, meaning the company has had to build a physical presence throughout the country, Behlke says.
“To have some same day or next day delivery, you need distribution centers nearby,” he says in the article.