PROVIDENCE – Amazon.com Inc. has filed suit against North Carolina in an effort to block the state from gathering information on its customers and their purchases.
The state’s Department of Revenue recently requested that Amazon provide customer information for purchases made by North Carolinians since 2003. The state is auditing Amazon’s compliance with state sales and use tax laws, hoping to collect the millions of dollars in sales tax owed by residents who buy books, music and other products online.
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Amazon argues the state’s request would violate the First Amendment rights of its customers in addition to hurting the company’s business, according to the complaint filed in a Seattle federal court.
“Each order of a book, movie, CD or other expressive work potentially reveals an intimate fact about an Amazon customer,” Amazon wrote. “The [Department of Revenue] has no business seeking to uncover the identity of Amazon’s customers who purchase expressive content.”
Additionally, Amazon wrote in its court filing that the company already provides North Carolina with information about how much the state’s residents spend on the site. The retailer also said North Carolina has threatened contempt proceedings if Amazon does not provide customer names and addresses.
North Carolina and Rhode Island both passed laws last year aimed at forcing Amazon.com to collect sales tax on purchases made by the state’s residents, which Amazon says it is not required to do under a 1992 Supreme Court ruling.
It is not clear whether Rhode Island will make a request for customer records as North Carolina has done.
Amy Kempe, spokeswoman for Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, said in an e-mail: “Please understand that for confidentiality purposes, the Division of Taxation cannot comment on action it takes against any taxpayer, but the Division of Taxation is taking steps to ensure all taxpayers affected by any changes in the sales tax statute are informed and complying with the new law.”
