Abolish sales taxes now

By Ed Lasky

Amazon reported outstanding results today-the best holiday season in the company's (albeit) brief history. This flies in face of dire reports from every retailer in America. The impact on retailing has had ripple effects: chains are laying off thousands of workers, stores are being shuttered, shopping mall REITs are listing badly in the stock market, and loans to the retail chains and landlords are being heavily discounted because there is less likelihood of these mortgages and loans being paid off.

The figure I would like to see is how much of Amazon's sales come from areas where the sales taxes are high? Of course, one would have to adjust the adjust the figures for a per capita measure to take into account population size. One could wager that Amazon's success is not just derived from ease of shopping, breadth of offerings, and being able to shop from home (as opposed to paying for gas) but also is directly correlated with high sales taxes some states charge.

Example, Cook County (Chicago) has the highest sales tax in America, topping out at over 10% and counting. How likely is it that people are taking advantage of free shopping (orders over 25 dollars) as well as completely avoiding sales taxes that have become confiscatory and are also regressive, to boot. All thanks to the enduring Democratic lock on Cook County and also helped by an incompetent (ex) governor, Rod Blagojevich.

Sales taxes are hurting consumers, they are helping to drive retailers into bankruptcy, people onto unemployment rolls, and lenders into anguish over whether their loans will be repaid but are also impoverishing America. The rebate checks don't go as far as they should in the wake of steadily increasing sales taxes. Americans are called to buy to support the economy and jobs, but who wants to fork over multiple percents of the complete purchase price to the Leviathan known as the government?

We like to go shopping, not just to buy, but to mingle, to join the crowds, to escape the confines of home and work. The only company that benefits seems to be Amazon.

Hence, we see people in such communities as New York and other high tax areas petition their political leaders for sales tax holidays. In the case of New York, their pleas are ignored. Instead, Governor David Paterson is seeking a slew of new sales taxes. Democrats have never discovered a tax they do not want to impose on us.