Report: Amazon petitions to repeal California sales-tax measure

Seattle -- A Monday report by the Wall Street Journal said that Amazon.com on Friday filed a petition to add a measure on the California ballot asking voters to repeal the recently passed California law that requires online retailers to collect sales tax.



Amazon needs to submit 504,760 signatures by late September in order to get the measure on the Feb. 7, 2012 ballot for the next statewide election.



Amazon’s VP public policy Paul Misener said in a statement that “this is a referendum on jobs and investment in California. At a time when businesses are leaving California, it is important to enact policies that attract and encourage business, not drive it away.”



In June, California joined eight other states in passing a law forcing online retailers to collect sales taxes. Other states are jumping on the bandwagon, as Arkansas, Connecticut and Illinois also enacted such legislation this year. Amazon’s response has been to cut ties with affiliates in most of those states.