What are Jacksonville's chances at landing Amazon?

[Traveller]

A lot of states have recently passed laws that force sales tax on online sales.  GA passed such a law either this year or last year, so no matter whether you're buying from a bricks and mortar store or on Amazon/Ebay you are going to pay 8%.

Those laws may not withstand a Constitutional challenge under Quill v. North Dakota.  The Commerce Clause grants the federal government the power to regulate interstate commerce, and absent some sort of physical presense, states cannot impose a sales tax collection responsibility on an out-of-state retailer.  A retail store or distribution center are obvious examples of physical presence, but states have tried to argue that independent webstites that refer buyers to Amazon count as well.

In my opinion, it's going to take a federal law like the Main Street Fairness Act to override Quill and level the playing field between online only retailers like Amazon, Overstock, and eBay, and brick-and-mortar retailers like Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart, and smaller merchants like Chamblin's.  In the meantime, the proper method of taxing online sales is to have the customer pay use tax on his or her purchase, which unfortunately no one ever does.

Form DR-15MO: http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/forms/2010/dr15mo.pdf

[Brian Siebenschuh]

In Florida you're legally required to proactively remit 7% sales tax on any online purchases (e.g. if I buy a $5,000 refrigerator, when I send in the payment for all the taxes I've collected from guests this month, I have to throw in an extra $350 to cover the tax I didn't pay on that refrigerator I bought from a company in another state).  That's how it works for businesses at least.

[Mathew1056]

Given that Jacksonville lacks protections for its LGBT community I'd say the chance Amazon moving here is unlikely.

[Ocklawaha]

Given that Jacksonville lacks protections for its LGBT community I'd say the chance Amazon moving here is unlikely.

As a compassionate outsider to the LGBT community it would seem to me that the very best course of action would be for the local LGBT community to beg, borrow, push or pull EVERY LGBT friendly company in America to open up here. The overwhelming sheer numbers would force change at every level.

[vicupstate]

all corporations do this and they have a duty to do it to their shareholders.  International Paper has their HQ in Memphis, TN.  Right now they want a 30 year property tax moratorium in exchange for them building a new HQ and moving 100 more jobs from CT to Memphis.  If they don't, they say they will build it over the state line in MS, which hands out these incentives whenever they can.

They have a duty to rook the public for their personal gain.?  WOW!  Do I have a duty to fake a disability to  get a check from the government? 

[vicupstate]

These jobs are low paying, low skill and many are part-time.  I realize such jobs are needed, but they are hardly the kind to build a strong economy on.   

Exactly. It's like giving companies incentives to companies to build a call center. It may create a few hundred jobs. But they are low wage jobs with high turnover.

Well not everyone can be highly skilled somebody has to do these jobs.

Nothing says we have to provide public dollars for these jobs, when then don't raise the standard of living.  If every locality refrained from doing this, they would make their location decisions based on genuine business related factors, not  bribes.

For local and state governments it is  race to the bottom that robs the public for the gain of a few. 

To show how extreme it can get, SC paid $900 mm (not a typo) to get Boeing to open a plant in Charleston.  That is the approximate cost of the plant.  SC essentially built it's plane plant for them.