From an article in Smartmoney:
Those who order “Fifty Shades of Grey” in paperback generally pay sales tax, but in most of the country the e-book version is tax free. That may soon change.
Republican governors are gradually easing their longtime opposition to sales taxes on online purchases, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. This will push up the price for the wide variety of tangible goods sold on sites like Amazon.com. (Amazon did not respond to requests for comment.) Most Americans who read books on their Kindles, Nooks and iPads have been exempt from taxes, but getting a piece of such sales may be irresistible to cash-strapped governments, experts say. “It’s become too big a market to ignore,” says Carolynn Iafrate Kranz, chief operating officer at Industry Sales Tax Solutions. “We’re starting to see more states taxing digital content.”
Thanks to Michael von Glahn for the link.
For what it’s worth, this is already in effect in NJ. Amazon whacked me for sales tax on the last few ebooks I purchased.
I’ve been paying sales tax all along on Nook books in Arizona (but this may simply be due to the definite presence of B&N in the state).
It should be noted that over half the states (28+DC) don’t collect sales tax on e-books anyway. Five states don’t collect sales tax at all, and 23 states and the District of Columbia don’t collect sales tax on intangible items.
22 states do tax intangibles like e-books.
Ref: http://state-tax.blogspot.com/2011/05/is-itune-taxable-in-california.html
I have been charged sales tax on eBooks I’ve purchased from Amazon for the past couple of years. It’s inconsistent though, some books I don’t get charged, other books it is 1% (10 cents on a book that is $9.99). Sales tax here in Connecticut is 6.35% now, so it really doesn’t compute.
Frank: Connecticut doesn’t tax ebooks, and there are no local sales taxes in the state. The 1% is probably an incorrect charge for “computer and data processing services”.
See: http://www.ct.gov/drs/cwp/view.asp?a=1511&q=335562
Interestingly, the UK does *not*, for some reason, have taxes on paperbooks, but they *do* tax ebooks!
Late to the discussion, but thought that I would mention that CT does indeed have a 1% sales tax on digital goods: http://askdrs.ct.gov/Scripts/drsrightnow.cfg/php.exe/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=750