Amazon offers Texas 5,000 jobs in trade for sales-tax exemption

Amazon.com wants to make a deal with the state of Texas. The proposed offer circulating around Austin would let Amazon off the hook for collecting sales taxes from its Texas customers over the next 4 ½ years and would bring 5,000 jobs to the state. The company also is promising to spend $300 million to open distribution centers where those employees would work. Finally, it wants the Texas comptroller's office to set up a website where its customers can send sales tax owed on Amazon purchases to the state. Historically, voluntary sales-tax payments haven't been reliable. South Carolina recently accepted a similar offer from Amazon.