California Targets Amazon But Hits eBay

The bad ideas abound in Sacramento:

California lawmakers thought they were targeting Amazon.com, the out-of-state giant, when they voted last week to force Internet retailers to collect sales tax.
It turns out eBay Inc., California's own golden child of e-commerce, isn't so thrilled about it, either.

The San Jose online auction company says the legislation would hurt its business model, which relies on thousands of entrepreneurs who sell goods on its site.

The intent may have been to go after Amazon, but "we're literally caught in the crossfire," said David London, senior director for state government relations at eBay.

Legislators have tried for years to tax Internet commerce. Last week they passed the latest version of the so-called "Amazon tax," requiring online retailers to collect California sales tax from their customers.

Gov. Jerry Brown has given the legislation his tentative blessing, telling reporters last week that it's a "common sense idea."

Common sense is not common at all in Sacramento.

What Gov. Moonbeam and the Democrats don't want to acknowledge is that the moment this bill passes Amazon will cancel all their associates agreements with Californians (like me) and will immediately cease doing business in the state. The state's sales tax income from this new law will be approximately zero. In fact, it may actually go negative because those few people who claim their Amazon purchases on their tax forms won't have internet purchases to claim anymore.

The state is run by morons.