From the
Indianapolis Business Journal:
Republican state senators have blocked a vote
on a bill that would force Amazon.com and some other online-only retailers to
start collecting Indiana's 7-percent sales tax this summer.
The bill that cleared the House by a wide margin had been scheduled for a Senate vote Thursday until the Senate Republican caucus decided to have the measure pulled for more negotiations.
The bill would require Amazon to start online sales tax collection in July, six months earlier than under a deal that former Gov. Mitch Daniels brokered with the company last year.
Senate Majority Leader Brandt Hershman says Indiana's reputation with businesses would suffer if the Legislature interfered with the Amazon agreement.
The bill's supporters say the Amazon deal is unfair to traditional retailers who must charge sales taxes.
Current policy dates to a 2007 deal with the Seattle-based Amazon, which agreed to open its first warehouse in Indiana with the promise that officials wouldn't push for online sales tax collection. Amazon now has five distribution centers in Indiana; it hasn't said how many people it employs.
After Indianapolis-based shopping mall owner Simon Property Group sued the state and there was lobbying push by traditional retailers over the policy, Daniels reached an agreement with Amazon last January for the company to voluntarily start collecting state sales tax in 2014.
The bill that cleared the House by a wide margin had been scheduled for a Senate vote Thursday until the Senate Republican caucus decided to have the measure pulled for more negotiations.
The bill would require Amazon to start online sales tax collection in July, six months earlier than under a deal that former Gov. Mitch Daniels brokered with the company last year.
Senate Majority Leader Brandt Hershman says Indiana's reputation with businesses would suffer if the Legislature interfered with the Amazon agreement.
The bill's supporters say the Amazon deal is unfair to traditional retailers who must charge sales taxes.
Current policy dates to a 2007 deal with the Seattle-based Amazon, which agreed to open its first warehouse in Indiana with the promise that officials wouldn't push for online sales tax collection. Amazon now has five distribution centers in Indiana; it hasn't said how many people it employs.
After Indianapolis-based shopping mall owner Simon Property Group sued the state and there was lobbying push by traditional retailers over the policy, Daniels reached an agreement with Amazon last January for the company to voluntarily start collecting state sales tax in 2014.
