With the recent addition of Ohio, the largest U.S. online retailer now collects sales tax from more than three-quarters of the population of the United States.
Amazon.com Inc., No. 1 in the 2015 Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, this month started collecting sales tax from Ohio residents, making Ohio the 25th state in which it collects sales tax. Ohio has a state sales tax rate of 5.75%. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, that means 247.2 million people, or 77.5% of the U.S. population, now live in states where Amazon collects sales tax. Five states — Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon — do not have a sales tax.
In February, Amazon began collecting sales tax from Illinois residents. But an investment analyst who covers Amazon said at the time that he did not think collecting sales tax would have much of an impact on Amazon’s overall sales in the state.
“There is little data to support the view that taxes have a longer-term negative impact on Amazon,” said Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co..
Top500Guide.com data shows Amazon grew its global online sales to an Internet Retailer-estimated $79.480 billion in 2014, up 17.1% year over year from $67.855 billion in 2013.