Connecticut pushes Amazon tax law

Connecticut officials are not giving up on requiring Internet sellers to collect state sales taxes, despite signs from online retailer, Amazon.com that it has no immediate plans to abide by the state's new Internet tax law, The Wall Street Journal notes.

State officials confirmed to The Associated Press that Amazon wrote to the Department of Revenue Services this month, saying the company is not obligated to abide by the law because it does not have a physical presence in Connecticut.

Amazon contends that by not having a physical presence, it does not have to collect and remit taxes to the state, a protection of the US Constitution.

Connecticut plans to press Amazon for the taxes the state believes it should have collected, at least during the month or so when the new law was in effect and Amazon still had affiliations with Web sites in Connecticut through its Amazon Associates Programme, NPR writes.

Amazon severed those ties in June. The state could expect up to $9.4 million a year in additional revenue if remote sellers, including Amazon, complied with the new law, according to an estimate by the General Assembly's Office of Fiscal Analysis.

That estimate was based on data from a comparable New York law. Connecticut officials believe Amazon is obligated in other ways, as well.

Connecticut is also building a case to take Amazon to court, Forbes says. Amazon did not return calls for comment.