As you know, people now shop Amazon for almost everything. Heck, you can shop online, you get your product in 2 days, and you don't pay taxes. ( Although technically your supposed to file a Use Tax, but no one ever does ).
The reason why you haven't been paying taxes with Amazon, is because there is a Supreme Court ruling from way back, that basically says that if the business does not have a presence in the state ( and this even deals with local cities and counties ), that the business does not have to collect sales tax for that state.
You've probably noticed ( depending on where you are of course ), that if you were to buy something online from say Office Depot, Walmart, Target, etc., that you still have to pay taxes on it. This is because that although you purchased online, there is still a Walmart in your state. Therefore, they will collect taxes.
So Amazon, as part of their past strategy, have tried to keep their presence in different states to a minimum, so that they could sell without charging taxes.
Well in today's paper , I see that Amazon is going to start expanding to brick and mortar: http://www.denverpost.com/...
From self-serve pickup stations in 7-Eleven stores to grocery-delivery trucks rolling through Seattle neighborhoods, Amazon is expanding its physical footprint to make shopping online quicker and easier — if no longer tax-free.
So this is great news for states, as it's the largest source of revenue for state governments.
It's also great news for brick and mortar retailers. I have to admit, I hate that manufactures are selling direct on Amazon, and cutting out all the businesses that used to wholesale, distribute and retail products. At least now there will be healthier competition in the marketplace, that is not based on tax avoidance.