taxes

Amazon has cut a deal with California lawmakers, according to various reports, giving it another year to sell products to that state's residents tax free.

In exchange, Amazon agreed to halt efforts to overturn the new California law requiring it--and other out-of-state online retailers--to collect sales taxes, according to a Los Angeles Times report. That law, signed in June, requires any retailer who, "through a subsidiary," has any "place of business" in California to collect sales taxes.

Amazon is clearly betting that federal lawmakers will take on the issue before California can start collecting the … Read more

Amazon is trying a new tactic in its bid to fight states that force online retailers to collect sales tax.

On Friday, the online retail giant filed a petition for a referendum with the California attorney general's office, the Associated Press is reporting. The referendum would ask voters to overturn a new California law that forces online retailers to collect sales tax there.

Amazon is especially concerned with one of the law's stipulations, which requires online retailers to collect sales tax if affiliates operating in California push customers to an online retailer's site to buy products.

Amazon … Read more

Amazon.com said today that it's reluctantly severing ties with affiliates in California, a move that it hopes will let it continue shipping products to state residents without collecting sales taxes.

But a little-noticed clause in the legislation that Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed into law today gives California tax collectors a second, albeit legally untested, cudgel to use against the Seattle-based company. The law takes effect immediately.

The measure says that any retailer who "through a subsidiary" has any "place of business" in California must collect sales taxes. And--surprise!--Amazon has two subsidiaries … Read more

Amazon has shut down its affiliates program in Connecticut and Arkansas over the controversial issue of collecting state taxes.

The company announced the move in letters to affiliates Friday, noting that contracts with all Connecticut residents who participate in the Amazon Associates Program would be terminated effective immediately, while contracts with affiliates in Arkansas will be terminated on July 24.

Affiliates of the Associates Program are typically Web site owners and bloggers who link to Amazon on their sites as a way of driving traffic to the online retailer. In return, they receive a commission if a sale is made.… Read more

US Uncut, an organization that fights companies that try to avoid taxes, is planning to target Apple retail stores on June 4, protesting the company's support of the Win America Campaign.

The group seeks to have Apple leave the WAC, which it claims is lobbying Congress for what would end up being a $4 billion tax cut for the company, as well as to cease other lobbying activities relating to "tax loopholes."

"Apple plays huge games with their taxes. By disguising profits in the U.S. as foreign earnings in low-tax countries, Apple dodges billions of … Read more

The U.S. wind industry is growing again after taking a big step backward last year.

Yet turbine makers and wind farm developers are finding few reasons to celebrate as the clean energy source struggles to secure long-term government support while facing stiff competition from cheap natural gas.

Once the world's top wind market, the United States ceded that mantle to China last year as a weak economy halted its growth and cut new installations to half of the 10,000 megawatts of capacity built in 2009.

Since then, business has picked up, but not for the reasons the industry would like. Energy demand is still tepid due to a gurgling economic recovery, and the low cost of natural gas is keeping power prices low.

Pricing in long-term power sales contracts signed by wind developers has fallen 30 percent in the last two years and will fall further this year, according to IHS Emerging Energy Research.

Currently, the market is being shepherded by developers who are scrambling to put turbines in the ground ahead of a 2013 expiration of lucrative federal tax credits for wind. Beyond that date, the industry's fortunes are hazy. … Read more

After earlier predicting a profitable fiscal year, Sony now expects to lose a total of 260 billion yen ($3.2 billion) for the year, a change due in huge part to the effects of the Japanese earthquake.

In a statement (PDF) released today, the electronics giant revised its figures for its fiscal year ended March 31 from those originally offered in February. The forecast of a $3.2 billion loss is quite different than its earlier projection of a profit of 70 billion yen ($857 million) for the year.

Sony also slightly lowered its revenue forecast to 7.18 trillion … Read more

Some Americans would pay less for digital purchases from iTunes, Amazon.com, and other online stores in the future, if a bill that two U.S. senators introduced today becomes law.

The Digital Goods and Services Tax Fairness Act of 2011, written by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and John Thune (R-S.D.), hopes to curb taxes that single out digital goods and services.

The new bill prohibits state and local governments from taxing products that do not apply to similar tangible items, preventing unnecessary taxes on consumers for using digital products. (See CNET's earlier report on a similar "iTaxes" bill introduced last year in the House of Representatives.) … Read more

Amazon.com is threatening to cut ties with affiliates in any states that decide to collect sales tax, CEO Jeff Bezos said yesterday.

"We will continue to drop states who pass those affiliate laws, from the affiliate program," Bezos said at the ShopSmart Shopping Summit in New York, according to Reuters.

The company recently cut ties with affiliates in Illinois and has also done so in Colorado, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. Amazon is threatening to do likewise in California.

As on online company, Amazon itself isn't required to collect taxes in states where the company is … Read more