Community Viewpoint: Amazon, E-Fairness and Local Businesses' Struggles

I believe in the free market system. I also believe everyone participating in this system should be held to the same rules — because a level playing field is one of the most important features of a healthy free market system.

State Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, has sponsored legislation (SB 597) that will have a direct, positive impact on both our communities and our businesses. SB 597 requires that Amazon meet the same tax requirements that every Virginia business follows.

The sales taxes collected and taxes paid by businesses are a long-standing backbone of the quality of life in our communities. Amazon — with 2011 earnings of more than $17 billion — has yet to contribute one penny in sales tax to Virginia’s economy.

Here are just a few of the differences that your local businesses make:

» When you think of teacher salaries, police officers, firefighters and road repairs, consider that local businesses on average circulate more than 40 cents back into your community for every dollar you spend. (See the American Independent Business Alliance, www.amiba.net, for verifying statistics.) To put this in perspective, a Lynchburg business with sales of $1 million a year will circulate on average $400,000 back into the community, per year.

» Local businesses do more than just pay taxes. They donate money to community organizations and events (e.g. school carnivals, arts events and thousands of different fund raisers). When has Amazon sponsored your Little League team or donated a gift certificate to your school carnival?

» Local businesses invest substantial money in Lynchburg through contracts with other area businesses for equipment, repair, service, construction and advertising, providing jobs for Lynchburg and area residents.

» Locally owned businesses depend on the community for their survival, so they do not turn to predatory practices to undermine their competition. (For details on Amazon’s December tactic, search “Amazon backlash continues.”) Besides, operating fairly is simply a more ethical option.

» Brick-and-mortar businesses have not only been the economic foundation of our communities. They also provide a means for us to connect, to create bonds with each other and weave stories, be it getting together over coffee, eating lunch, shopping for goods or meeting at the gym. They create the personality and character of where we eat, live, play, learn, work and raise our families. In an age of faceless dialogue and transactions, let’s hope that our communities can be places where people interact, laugh and talk face to face while allowing local commerce to thrive.

All of us share concern about the current economic conditions. We are all considering how to stretch dollars.

It is during hard times like these that we examine and express our true values. Yes, there are many things to buy online. It is also important to be informed about what this means to your community under the current tax structure. Be informed, not “penny wise and pound foolish.” Know what saving a few cents or a few dollars online (savings that is often negated by shipping charges) on that bike, hammer, pair of shoes, jar of vitamins, book or dress does to your neighborhood.

It’s only ethical that we all play by the same rules. Your local businesses strive to be competitive. I hope I have made clear that we are competing on an uneven playing field. SB 597 requires Amazon to collect sales taxes and provide these to the Commonwealth of Virginia, ensuring the fair and equitable collection of sales taxes from every business in Virginia. All companies doing business in the commonwealth, including those making billions of dollars, need to be held to the same basic standard and become — whether voluntarily or not — good corporate citizens.

Ask your elected representatives to support SB 597. Lynchburg deserves to be a strong community that continues to provide its citizens with a high quality of life.

Givens is owner of Givens Books in Lynchburg; he’s writing on behalf of the store’s 14 employees. He wrote this commentary for The News & Advance.