Struggling States Try to Get Amazon to Collect Sales Tax

NYTimes: "Amazon’s skirmishes with states over whether it should collect sales taxes have been an ongoing battle. But the fighting has recently escalated, coinciding with the economic woes that have left a number of states struggling with multibillion-dollar deficits, and looking for money wherever they can find it."

Amazon Prevails in First Amendment Case

Washington Post: "Lists that identify the books, music and movies individual customers bought from online retailer Amazon.com are protected from North Carolina tax collectors, a federal judge has ruled. Amazon said in a lawsuit it filed in April in its home town of Seattle that disclosing such information, as requested by the North Carolina Revenue Department, could harm its customers. U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman ruled late Monday that the First Amendment protects a buyer from the government demanding to know the books, music, and audiovisual products they've bought."