Amazon.com Inc. is seeking to put a referendum on California’s state ballot next year that proposes overturning the state’s recently approved law on Internet sales taxes.
The new law, widely supported by the state’s brick-and-mortar retailers, requires online retailers that have affiliates in the state to collect sales taxes from consumers they sell to online.
Several states have passed so-called “Amazon laws” in recent years to raise additional revenue needed to help close yawning budget deficits. The laws are designed to comply with a 1992 Supreme Court decision which said states could only collect sales taxes from business that have a physical presence in the state.
Amazon must now collect more than 500,000 signatures by September to get the initiative on the ballot. That campaign is likely sets the stage for a costly fight in the nation’s largest state.
Amazon cut off ties to its affiliates in California after the state passed the law last month. Affiliates generally earn commissions of 5 to 15 percent on sales they generate for e-comerce sites by providing links to those sites on their own websites.
