[burgerbrain]

What these government numbskulls don't seem to understand is that what Amazon is doing isn't fundamentally any different from what Sears was doing over a century ago with their mail-order catalog.

Amazon it's receiving an "unfair" anything, they are operating well within the law and long established acceptable business practices. Politicians are just being greedy, plain and simple.

[A1kmm]

Operating within the law doesn't imply something is fair - especially when we are talking about a law change.

I think that the law should fairly target mail-order companies as well as Internet-order companies.

Of course, levying taxes based on where the buyer lives makes things difficult for the seller in terms of compliance costs; I think the best solution would be for the federal government (or even organisations like the WTO) to request that jurisdictions provide a register of who taxes should be paid to, and enough information to automate tax payments, by geographic region. The private sector could do this, but a government or International Organisation backed solution might see more participation in the scheme by tax jurisdictions.

[chopsueyar]

An International Organisation to keep track of taxes owed on internet purchases?

Who is in charge of that?

What sort of conflict resolution would exist if one disagrees with the tax owed?

Just suggest a world emperor and be done with it.