When it comes to avoiding the requirement of collecting sales tax from its consumers, Amazon is not afraid to open its wallet.
More than nine months before a proposed June 2012 referendum asking that California?s new Internet sales tax law be overturned, Amazon, the Seattle-based online retailer, has already spent $5.25 million, state records show, more than any company has spent in California this far from a vote in at least a decade.
?The initiative and referendum process have been hijacked,? said Loni Hancock, a state senator from Berkeley, who is now pushing legislation that could block Amazon?s referendum effort.
Even by California?s expensive campaign standards, the company?s early contributions are causing observers to take note. For example, the company?s $5.25 million investment dwarfs the $1.5 million that Pacific Gas and Electric spent nine months ahead of the vote on Proposition 16, a June 2010 initiative that would have made it more difficult for local governments to get into the electricity business.
PG& E ultimately spent $46 million on that campaign. Political observers say that by spending more, earlier, Amazon is showing potential opponents that its ultimate campaign spending could soar even higher.
While Walmart and other deep-pocketed retailers have lined up in favor of the tax law, they may decide to forgo financing the opposition to Amazon?s referendum if they feel it faces long odds, Schnur said. Early polling has suggested that a vote would be close.
