New broke yesterday that Amazon will close an Irving, Texas distribution center and cancel plans to build more business in Texas–the bitter result of a dispute with Texas’ comptroller’s office over sales tax.
According to the Dallas Morning News, the state is fighting to get Amazon to pay $269 million in sales tax. The comptroller thinks that the state loses about $600 million in sales tax every year from Internet-based businesses.
What do you think? Dave Clark, Amazon’s VP of operations at the center, wrote a letter to employees: “We were previously planning to build additional facilities and expand in Texas, bringing more than 1,000 new jobs and tens of millions of investment dollars to the state, and we regret the need to reverse course.” (Via Publishers Weekly)
