Amazon.com to begin collecting Pa. sales tax

Amazon says it will start collecting Pennsylvania sales tax on orders that are shipped to the state, beginning Saturday.

The Seattle-based company has previously refused to include Pennsylvania’s 6 percent levy on its orders. But a spokesman said yesterday that it reversed itself because a state directive requiring it takes effect Saturday.

 

Spokesman Scott Stanzel said the company currently collects sales taxes on orders shipped to six other states and that it plans to add California to the list on Sept. 15.

Stanzel says Amazon believes questions about the taxation of online purchases should be resolved by federal legislation that uniformly gives states that authority. Two bills are pending, and he says there appears to be growing support for such a law.