Idle Time Books is, for those who haven’t read this Washington Post article yet on e-sales tax (an article that somehow manages to avoid noting that existing e-sales taxes have not increased revenue) (both links via Ben Domenech at Ricochet), being presented as the Plucky Little Company That Will Serve As a Club With Which To Morally Beat The Big, Bad Amazon:
Still, local retailers hope the sales tax measures will give them a chance to compete.
“I’ve got to file a form every month, and I’m only one tiny business,” said Val Morgan, owner of Idle Time Books, a 30-year old bookstore in Adams Morgan. “If I can do it, surely Amazon can.”
Well, here’s my prediction: if Congress passes some version of the Marketplace Fairness Act, then if Idle Time Books is selling merchandise online a year afterwards it’ll be exclusively via Amazon.com
I’m not sure if anybody’s told Val Morgan that yet, or not.
Moe Lane
Full disclosure: I am a Maryland affiliate for Amazon.com
Unintended Consequences.
*A* form. Not *fifty* forms, and that’s just for the states; as I understand it, there’s a lot of states that allow counties and cities to levy additional sales taxes on top of the state sales tax.