SEATTLE — Amazon has added $2.25 million to an effort to void a California law requiring online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases by state residents, a campaign-finance filing shows.
Amazon started the More Jobs Not Taxes campaign committee with a $3 million contribution in July. The Seattle-based company donated the additional amount Aug. 10, according to the Aug. 19 filing.
The committee is gathering signatures to authorize a June 2012 referendum on overturning the law, which was signed June 29. The campaign needs almost 505,000 signatures from California voters by Sept. 27 to qualify for the ballot.
Ned Wigglesworth, a spokesman for More Jobs Not Taxes, declined to comment on how the committee plans to spend its money. It hasn’t filed expenditure reports.
A 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allows states to require retailers to collect sales taxes only if they have a physical presence in the state.
After the California law passed, Amazon severed ties with about 10,000 California-based website operators that sell products through Amazon. Bloomberg News
