Mayors ask Gov. to force Amazon.com to pay sales tax

EASTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) - Easthampton Mayor Michael Tautznik has joined forces with other municipal leaders around the state to try to get Amazon.com to charge and pay sales tax.

Tautznik was one of eight mayors who sent a letter to Governor Deval Patrick.

The Easthampton mayor was the only Western Massachusetts mayor to sign the request.

The letter urges Governor Patrick to require Amazon.com to collect state sales tax before the start of holiday season.

Ken Adams works at Besko's Appliance in Easthampton and says they constantly lose customers to online retail. Adams told 22News last month's tax free weekend brought in eight weeks’ worth of business in two days.

“The only difference between that weekend and any other day of the week is that we have to charge sales tax,” said Adams. “So it's kind of unfair competition and not only Amazon, but anybody else online that does not charge sales tax.”

Adams says it's only fair to collect sales tax online or it will squeeze out small businesses from the competition.

The National Conference of State Legislatures estimates Massachusetts will lose more than $200 million in tax revenue this fiscal year.