Retail group presents amendment for Internet sales tax bill

CARSON CITY -- Brick-and-mortar retailers want online competitors to collect sales taxes from Nevada consumers.

The Retail Association of Nevada proposed an amendment to Senate Bill 34 to do just that, saying it would generate as much as $16 million annually in sales tax collections and create a level playing field for online and real-world stores.

But a lobbyist for Amazon.com warned the move might force the company to pull its work force out of Nevada, saying it favors a national system to collect sales tax on online purchases.

"The tax already exists," Bryan Wachter, a lobbyist for the retail association, told the Assembly Committee on Taxation on Tuesday. "This shifts that liability to the retailer to match what the brick-and-mortar stores are already doing."

Currently, states can collect sales tax on Internet purchases consumers make only from companies with a physical presence in the state. The burden of collecting the sales tax falls on the consumer, and few residents go through the trouble of downloading the forms from the taxation department, calculating the amount owed and sending a check to the state.

Under the amendment, that burden would shift to retailers.

"Efforts like this don't solve the problem," said John Griffin, a lobbyist for Amazon.com and its Nevada-based subsidiary Zappos.com.

State-by-state efforts to collect the taxes could undermine national efforts by the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. Griffin said Amazon would rather collect and remit sales taxes under a uniform, federal system.

"It is not tax avoidance. It is about easy collection," he said.

To avoid complications associated with a state-based system, he said, Amazon would consider moving out of Nevada. Amazon operates a warehouse and shipment center that employs about 1,300 people in Fernley.

Assemblywoman Teresa Benitez-Thompson, D-Reno, who said the company benefits from Nevada roads, schools and other services, said the threat to leave the state did not sit well with her.

"Really, you would give up on us so easily?" she asked.

The taxation committee did not vote on SB34 or the amendment.

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@
reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.