Serving Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, and Woodside for 44 years.
Editor & Publisher Tom Gibboney
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Published every Wednesday at 3525 Alameda De Las Pulgas, Menlo Park, Ca 94025 Newsroom: (650) 223-6525 Newsroom Fax: (650) 223-7525 Advertising: (650) 854-2626 Advertising Fax: (650) 854-3650 e-mail news and photos with captions to: Editor@AlmanacNews.com e-mail letters to: letters@AlmanacNews.com The Almanac, established in September, 1965, is delivered each week to residents of Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley and Woodside and adjacent unincorporated areas of southern San Mateo County. The Almanac is qualified by decree of the Superior Court of San Mateo County to publish public notices of a governmental and legal nature, as stated in Decree No. 147530, issued November 9, 1969.
Ideas, thoughts and opinions about
local issues from people in our community. Edited by Tom Gibboney.
Amazon’s misguided fight against sales tax
W
e hope the public will wholeheartedly support the local merchants, including Menlo Park’s Clark Kepler, who joined a press conference last week announcing opposition to Amazon.com’s campaign to get an exemption on paying a tax on sales it conducts in California. The company is said to be spending $3 million to collect signatures on a referendum petition that would ask voters in November ED ITORI AL to repeal an e-fairness bill that The opinion of The Almanac passed the state Legislature in June. The bill correctly, in our opinion, extends sales tax collection to many of the state’s Internet retailers, including Amazon. The state estimates that the measure would collect some $200 million in additional sales tax revenue annually. A handful of other states, including New York, now require most mail-order companies to collect state sales tax. Amazon — which now sells thousands of general merchandise items in addition to books — apparently has decided that it will go all out to battle the California law, which would take away its unfair advantage over local stores and shops, including independent booksellers like Kepler’s. In California, Amazon can claim an 8 to 9 percent advantage over so-called brick-and-mortar stores that must charge whatever sales tax is levied in the city and county where they operate. And although state law requires that residents who make mail-order purchases out of state to voluntarily pay sales tax, the lion’s share of this business is not reported to tax authorities. Mr. Kepler has been battling against Amazon and other big-box stores for years, charging that profits on local purchases leave the city or county and never return. Income earned by locally owned businesses circulates in the community three or four times over, benefiting local workers and companies, he says. The local merchants emphasize that all they want is a level playing field, and are
more than willing to compete with Amazon and other online retailers if they paid their proper share of sales tax. Amazon, besides hiring professional signature-gatherers to drum up the support it needs to put the repeal referendum on the November ballot, immediately fired thousands of its California affiliate businesses who sold Amazon merchandise when the sales tax measure passed in June. In our view, Amazon’s campaign is an incredible slap in the face to California taxpayers, who support local and state government by paying millions of dollars in sales taxes every year. One group, Stand with Main Street, that favors local brick-and-mortar businesses, estimates that such stores lose $4.1 billion in sales a year to online retailers who are skirting local sales taxes and not hiring local workers. Another estimate, by Goldman Sachs, predicts that online shopping — which has more than tripled since 2000 — will jump from 4.4 percent of all retail sales now to 17.1 percent in the near future. Clearly, it was time for California to make sure this huge portion of the state’s commerce pay its fair share of sales taxes, just like other businesses. Many local governments, including Menlo Park’s, have seen major drops in sales tax revenue during this and previous downturns. More and more of that is trickling away as a result of Internet purchases. It is interesting to note that the state will not license automobiles purchased out of state until the owner has paid the appropriate California sales and vehicle taxes. There is no logical reason that some retailers should be exempt from collecting sales tax, while others are on the hook. No one is asking for special benefits for local businesses, but at least we should not have a tax policy that actually discourages patronizing local businesses. Let local businesses succeed or fail on their product pricing and service, not on the advantage of saving sales tax when purchases go to an online retailer.
L ETT E RS Our readers write
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Shopper irate over Menlo’s parking limit N WHAT’S YOUR VIEW? All views must include a home address and contact phone number. Published letters will also appear on the web site, www.TheAlmanacOnline.com, and occasionally on the Town Square forum.
TOWN SQUARE FORUM Post your views on the Town Square forum at www.TheAlmanacOnline.com EMAIL your views to: letters@almanacnews.com and note this it is a letter to the editor in the subject line. MAIL or deliver to: Editor at the Almanac, 3525 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park, CA 94025.
CALL the Viewpoint desk at 223-6507.
Editor: We read many articles in our local newspapers concerning complaints from business owners regarding parking restrictions, which hurt their businesses. Recently I was shopping for a wedding gift, picked up my medical prescriptions, and then had a quick luncheon. When I returned to my car, there was a citation for overtime parking. I could not have been more than a few minutes over the two-hour parking limit! It is very disconcerting when one must keep on edge trying to accomplish a few errands, with one eye on the clock (or watch, whatever the case may be). It is, therefore, virtually impossible
18 N The Almanac N August 24, 2011
See LETTERS, next page
Atherton Heritage Association
Our Regional Heritage These four Atherton women are taking part in a “Polly of the Circus” charitable event that in the 1920s became an annual tradition at the Menlo Circus Club.