Tech

Trump renews call for internet tax, making a veiled threat against Amazon

Key Points
  • Trump reiterates concerns about the post office as it struggles to keep up with online orders.
  • There's been speculation that the president's shots at Amazon are really aimed at CEO Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post.
Trump repeats call for internet tax, making a veiled threat against Amazon
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Trump repeats call for internet tax, making a veiled threat against Amazon

President Donald Trump repeated an earlier call for an internet tax, in a thinly veiled shot at Amazon's Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post.

"The internet — they're going to have to start paying sales tax because it's very unfair what's happening to our retailers all over the country that are put out of business," Trump said Wednesday.

Trump also reiterated concerns about Amazon's effect on the U.S. Postal Service as it struggles to keep up with online orders.

The comments mirror tweets from the president in December that named the e-commerce giant.

Dec tweet

"There's always been a fear for players like an Amazon or a Google that something like this could actually get through," Daniel Ives, head of technology research at GBH Insights, told CNBC. "We believe it's more noise than a real threat."

President Trump slams Amazon, telling U.S. post office to charge more
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President Trump slams Amazon, telling U.S. post office to charge more

There's been speculation that the president's shots at Amazon are aimed at Bezos, whose newspaper has published stories critical of the president.

Amazon already collects sales tax on products it sells directly to consumers, but has faced challenges from states over its policy of allowing third-party vendors to charge varying levels of sales tax.

In June South Carolina filed a complaint against the online retailer, and Amazon agreed in November to take on additional third-party tax burden in its home state of Washington.

The issue has garnered more attention as Amazon continues to take a bigger share of overall retail sales. Amazon celebrated its "biggest holiday" shopping season at the end of last year.

There is an underlying movement among traditional brick-and-mortar retailers to more heavily tax Amazon, Ives said, so the discussion is "something you have to keep an eye on."

But the likelihood that an internet tax would pass is small, he said.

"Listen they've [Amazon] significantly changed the retail landscape across the world," Ives said. "I think it's more of the same where they're getting in the crosshairs."

Trump spoke before media and members of the administration Wednesday evening during the signing of the Interdict Act, which seeks to reduce drug smuggling through the purchase of opioid sensors.

Amazon did not immediately return a CNBC request for comment.

—CNBC's Kevin Breuninger and Eugene Kim contributed to this report.

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