Open Question Wednesday #6

I haven't completely forgotten about open question Wednesdays! Just, mostly forgot. And kept remembering on non-Wednesdays. Note that you don't have to answer this on Wednesday, obviously. :)

What's one of your favorite books about writing?

In Which I Rant at New York State and Amazon

I was shopping on Amazon for some gifts for some relatives in New York. I was happy with what I had in my cart, and I'd gotten it up to the level for free super-saver shipping. Though I'd forgotten to go through MyPoints or Memolink. Whoops! But that's beside the point, because I was in the process of checking out when I saw something odd in my total.

Sales tax!

... My state doesn't charge sales tax. What's going on here?

Some investigating led me to learn that starting June 1st, Amazon was charging every order shipped to New York, a New York sales tax. (Though how they decided on the percentage they did, I don't know. It didn't seem quite based on the county it was being shipped to, but it was more than the state base rate.) Their website also noted they were already in the process of suing NYS about it. Which would lead me to be on Amazon's side.

Except... that after further reading, the state documentation seems to say (I'm not a lawyer) that the sales tax* is only for New York customers. And news articles have said things like 'people residing in New York'.

I am not a New York customer. I do not reside in New York. I do not work in New York. My credit card billing address is not in New York.

All I was trying to do was buy something and have it sent directly to relatives in New York.

It seems Amazon (and New York) would rather I have it shipped here, to the nice sales-tax-free state, and reship it myself to New York. It won't cost me significantly more! But it'll sure eat into our national gasoline consumption.

So from where I'm sitting, it looks like Amazon wants to charge me a 7% tax, payable to New York State, for the privilege of exporting some books.

I wrote an Email to Amazon pointing out to them that I'm not a New York customer. We'll see what they reply with. Meanwhile, I'm going to be checking about B&N and Overstock** to see if they have the books I want for a comparable price.

And I'm contemplating writing my state reps.

* The new sales tax wording targets Amazon in particular because it goes after companies that have ties to companies and people in New York state who advertise to people in New York state. In other words, Amazon Affiliates.

**Overstock cut ties with their New York state-based affiliates rather than pay this sales tax. Amazon didn't want to take that step. Both companies are suing NYS.