Your Holidays Just Got A Little Costlier: Supreme Court Upholds Colorado’s ‘Amazon Tax’

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Cars drive away from Amazon.com's fulfillment center in DuPont, Wash.

Editor's Note: On July 1, companies that don't collect sales tax from consumers who buy online are required to send their sales data to the state. In December, the US Supreme Court let stand a Colorado law that requires online retailers to tell customers what they owe in state sales tax.

Porch pirates aren't the only thing online shoppers in Colorado have to worry about these days -- last week the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a state law requiring online sellers such as Amazon.com to notify customers how much they owe in state sales taxes; according to officials, the state has been missing out on close to $200 million per year in uncollected revenues.

In 2010, the Colorado legislature passed a law requiring online retailers to notify customers to pay sales tax and report purchases to the state. The Data and Marketing Association sued, and a federal judge put the law on hold in 2012. A year later, a federal appeals court sided with Colorado. The association appealed to the Supreme Court, but last week the court sided with the state by deciding to not hear the case.

Lynn Granger, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Revenue, said the state is still deciding on a course of action after the high court's decision, adding that a court injunction that was placed in 2014 currently prevents the state from enforcing the law.

Granger spoke with Colorado Matters host Ryan Warner.

Related:

Colorado's 'Amazon Tax' Argued At The U.S. Supreme Court