LINDA WERTHEIMER, Host:
NPR's business news starts with Amazon and sales taxes.
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WERTHEIMER: Big retailers, including Wal-Mart, are lobbying hard to force their online rival Amazon to collect state sale taxes. Amazon has been fighting the efforts. It cites a law that says companies only have to collect taxes if they have a physical presence in a state. But last week, Illinois became the latest state to pass a law that forces Amazon to collect sales tax if it has marketing affiliates in the state. Now Amazon plans to drop its Illinois affiliates so it can avoid collecting taxes. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.