If I get exempted from a fee that everyone else has to pay, this is a subsidy. And Amazon is getting a subsidy in the states that have sales taxes, since they do not have to pay the tax, by virtue of their superior lobbyists.
A tax is not a fee. A sales tax is levied on the buyer, not the seller, even though it is collected by the seller. No government in the United States is ever going to say that a tax break is a subsidy since it would be a confession that most governments are engaged in massive subsidies to other industries (car manufacturing for example).
A tax is not a fee. A sales tax is levied on the buyer, not the seller, even though it is collected by the seller. No government in the United States is ever going to say that a tax break is a subsidy since it would be a confession that most governments are engaged in massive subsidies to other industries (car manufacturing for example).