Amazon to hire 7,000 to put sales tax measure on hold in CA

Amazon.com has announced Friday that it has promised to hire 7,000 more employees in California if the state puts a hold on the online sales tax enacted by Governor Jerry Brown. Since July 1, the state started requiring out-of-state retailers to collect sales tax for online orders. Brown signed the measure into law as part of California’s plan to reduce its budget gap; the law is expected to add $200 to $300 million to the state’s massive deficit and will improve state and local government revenue.

Amazon says that if the state agrees to hold off enforcement of the new measure until 2014, it would also drop its push for a ballot measure to repeal the tax. News reports believe the new jobs would most likely be allocated to distribution centers, which will be great for the unemployment line throughout the state – especially considering that the national rates have yet to make for an increase this month. California’s unemployment rate was 12 percent in July, one of the highest in the country.

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Details of Amazon’s offer came about after a meeting Thursday between the company’s representatives, members of the California Retailers Association and a group of state Senate Republicans. The state is in dire need of some sort of monetary boost so it will be interesting to see what path this story takes and we’ll continue to track its details.