The San Jose Mercury News mentioned Kepler’s in an editorial arguing for an internet tax. The absence of such a tax allows people to buy from online stores such as, ahem, Amazon without contributing to their local economies.
Consider the recent closure of Kepler’s, Menlo Park’s storied bookseller: It’s clear that the 8.25 percent price premium that shoppers had to pay when buying books there instead of online didn’t help it stay competitive.
A letter to the editor in Friday’s Palo Alto Weekly rightly suggests that Kepler’s should name someone with a purely literary interest to its board of directors.
Salman Rushdie’s appearance, originally scheduled for October 3 at Kepler’s, has been moved to Books Inc. in Mountain View on Castro Street.
What’s happening out there? Is anyone looking for a new site for the store? The Tan Group sounds like they are not interested in making this work, and time is fleeting. What has to happen to break the lease with Tan?
Comment by Karen Anne — 9/27/2005 @ 1:38 am
So, um, actually in the state of CA the sales tax IS required, although Amazon, not being a CA
based company, does not collect it. That basically makes everyone who orders from Amazon and
doesn’t declare it on their state taxes guilty of tax evasion. What we need is stricter
enforcement of the current tax laws – no new laws are required.
Comment by Xta — 10/3/2005 @ 12:07 pm