but not to hundreds of other websites. I don't understand how this is legal. When it kicks in, you will see customers leaving amazon for lesser known sites. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if amazon creates it own lesser known site (legally unaffiliated with Amazon, of course).

That last part I wrote is so underhanded, that might be able to find a corporate consultant job in this economy yet. I'm learning well from terrible examples.

has to do with the constitution and the prohibition of states from regulating interstate commerce. Prior to the rise of the internet, it was ok to ship stuff and not charge tax unless you had a "nexus" in that state.

So for example, when Dell first started out, it only collected sales tax in Texas. 5 years ago when I bought my last dell computer and I was living in Oklahoma, I had to pay sales tax because Dell had a large call center operation in Oklahoma and hence a "nexus" there.

These rules were constant for decades... they are being fought over now as the internet is transforming the economy.

Internet sales needed the exemption from sales tax to be economically competitive with brick-and-mortar stores. I don't think that's the case anymore.

Last month, I bought an HDMI cable from Amazon for $2.47 delivered. Add sales tax to that, and it was still less than a quarter of the price that I could have picked it up for at the local Target. Some things just can't be bought in "real" stores anymore, you have to go to the Internet to find them, like parts to repair things.

I've been against the states taxing Internet sales, but maybe the time has come to rethink that. It certainly would produce a revenue stream that the states badly need.

Am I selling out?