Amazon Agrees to Charge California Sales Tax

Amazon made a surprising move last night: It gave in and agreed to charge sales tax in California next year. The online retailer announced it had reached a deal with the state in which it would stop fighting a new law that would force it to collect sales tax in the state in exchange for a one-year reprieve from it. That means Amazon would start collecting the tax next September.

“It’s a good deal,” a source close to the talks tells the San Jose Mercury News, because it removed any uncertainty about whether Amazon could scuttle the law. The online retailer, which is notoriously averse to sales tax, had been threatening to push for a referendum giving voters a chance to repeal the law. It had originally offered the state this deal, which would have let it off the hook for two years, but state Democrats refused. (More Amazon stories.)