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In a cash strap economy, the State of Texas slapped Amazon.com Inc with a $269 million for uncollected sales tax. In a statement R.J. DeSilva, a spokesperson for the Texas Comptroller’s office, said that Amazon was audited for sales tax, and sent a bill in August.

Amazon issued a statement in their SEC filling along the lines of “We intend to vigorously defend ourselves in this matter,” and the State of Texas “did not provide a sufficient basis for its assessment” and said it was without merit. Amazon is currently in legal battles in North Carolina, New York and Colorado over efforts by those states to collect sales tax from the company.

The issue arised from the fact that Amazon maintains a fulfillment center in Irving, Tx via an affiliate relationship, not a subsidiary. The company defended its lack of sales tax collection by saying Amazon doesn’t actually own the distribution center. It’s owned by a subsidiary, Amazon.com KYDC LLC, which is technically based in Kentucky. Assigning the distribution center to a different holding company, by Amazon’s logic, means it doesn’t have nexus there — and that’s why it feels it’s off the hook.

That amount included interest and penalties for four years from the period of December 2005 to December 2009.

Along that line, how many jobs will Texas lose if they would to move that facility North to Kansas or Oklahoma? Direct wages to indirect impact such as UPS shipping, etc.

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