The WSJ offers this in depth report. Amazon has successfully dodged the sales tax bullet by not having a brick and mortar presence anywhere. Sen. Mike Enzi from Wyoming has been carrying this torch since 2007 when he began advocating for a national sales tax database which would administer state sales tax for out of state purchases (this is technically called a "use tax"). Ostensibly the purpose of this type of legislation is to prevent governments in states with sales tax (not Oregon) from allowing on-line retailers a competitive advantage over brick and mortar retailers. The fear is that setting up a system where the feds are collecting sales tax for the states would make it easier for the feds to institute a federal sales tax, which is not very popular.
Amazon points to the Internet Tax Freedom Act as preventing a national sales tax on the internet. This is really not the case, except it may prevent a tax from being assessed on things like Kindle purchases. Amazon is still actively fighting any effort to make its transactions with consumers subject to a sales or use tax. It is probably a losing battle, as many states, and Mike Enzi, are keeping after it.
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