Report finds Amazon responsible for $1.43bn in lost revenue

27 January 2016 Books+Publishing

The American Booksellers Association (ABA) and retail research organisation Civic Economics have released a report blaming Amazon for US$1bn (A$1.43bn) in lost revenue to state and local governments in 2014, reports Publishers Weekly. The report ‘Amazon and Empty Storefronts: The Fiscal and Land Use Impact of Online Retail’ was presented at the ABA’s Winter Institute conference in Denver, Colorado. It found that states lost US$625.4m (A$894.3m) in sales tax revenue in 2014 through Amazon sales, and calculated that Amazon’s US$44.1bn (A$63.06bn) retail goods sales in 2014 was the equivalent of sales from 3215 storefronts that might have paid US$420m (A$600.56) in property taxes. The report also found that despite employing roughly 30,000 full-time workers and 104,000 part-time and seasonal workers, Amazon was still responsible for a net loss of 135,973 retail jobs based on the sales figures. The report noted that the sales tax gap is likely to close in coming years as more states collect tax from Amazon, but that the property tax gap will continue to grow. Civic Economics representative Dan Houston told the conference ‘red states are hurt the most by the tax gap’, with Missouri losing the most sales tax revenue at US$60.2m (A$86.08), followed by Colorado, Louisiana, and Alabama.

Category: International news