Lawmakers seek stronger Internet sales tax law
Published: Tuesday, September 6, 2011 14:12 PDT© 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
SACRAMENTO - Supporters of a bill that would force Internet retailers to begin collecting sales taxes immediately pressed lawmakers on Tuesday to pass the measure before the end of the session this week.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill as part of this year's budget to expand tax collection by Internet retailers effective July 1, but Amazon.com has spent more than $5 million toward a 2012 ballot referendum to overturn it.
If approved, the bill under consideration this week could not be overturned by voters because it would be considered an urgency measure.
Democratic lawmakers and retail businesses that support the new bill, AB155, say Amazon is trying to undermine the legislation with a proposal to add 7,000 California jobs at new distribution centers if the online sales tax law is delayed for at least two years.
Speaker of the Assembly John Perez, a Los Angeles Democrat, said Amazon and other Internet retailers kill thousands of California-based jobs each year by unfairly undercutting local businesses on price because they don't charge the tax.
In the flurry of legislative activity in the last week of the session, Perez said, "California will not sacrifice real jobs for phantom promises."
Amazon has proposed adding a total of nearly 22,000 jobs in six states that have stepped up tax collection efforts, which would amount to roughly a two-thirds increase in its worldwide workforce, said Bill Dombrowski, president of the California Retailers Association.
"The job numbers appear to be nothing but fiction," Dombrowski said.
Amazon has been pushing for a major expansion of its distribution network, proposing at least an additional 15 distribution centers as part of an effort to speed deliveries to customers.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Amazon's lobbyists began circulating a proposal last week to carve out an exemption from the tax collection rules for retailers that invest $500 million in the state and add 7,000 full-time jobs with health benefits by the end of 2014. So far, the proposal has not been incorporated in any bill.
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