According to the news reports on PBS's Morning Edition the California bricks and mortar merchants pushed this bill through the legislature in the belief that internet sales that are exempt from local sales taxes: 1) give the internet marketer an advantage equal to the amount of the tax, and 2) let the internet marketer use the local brick and mortar shop as a show room when the purchaser goes inspects the merchandise and then buys on line. They do have a point. However, at an elemental level a tax should only be leveed if the governing and taxing body provides a real and substantive service for the charge. I haven't heard what service connection exists for internet sales.
This is going on nationwide, particularly in the current revenue crunch that is effecting every level of government causing layoffs of vital personnel in some instances. Apparently Amazon isn't totally against the payment of taxes but has a problem with the incredible diversity of tax rates and charges in the fifty states--a very good point. The only problem for Amazon that I see is that they 1) still have offices in CA, and based on that alone may be subject to the CA tax in the final analysis, and 2) they lose sales--bc if nothing else they need to have the links to make their business model work.
Poor Governor Moonbean, losing his hair and losing money for the State--he could shave one problem, but how does he balance the budget. He should have learned long ago from Senator Russell Long, (D-LA) who wisely observed, "Don't tax me and I won't tax thee, we'll tax that man behind the tree!" Cynical, but true.
