Sears (Nasdaq:SHLD) Sides with Government Against Amazon.com (AMZN)

The draconian so-called E-Fairness Bill signed into law by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, was being drooled over by Sears Holdings Corporation (Nasdaq:SHLD), as they backed the proposal for companies like Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) to be forced to collect taxes even though they have no physical presence in the state.

Sears said this in a press release: "Sears Holdings Corporation (Nasdaq:SHLD) one of Illinois' oldest retailers, applauds Governor Pat Quinn's approval of House Bill 3659, which will restore long overdue fairness to the tax system for retailers and taxpayers in Illinois. The "E-fairness Law" helps to correct a longstanding problem of out-of-state businesses not collecting and remitting the sales tax in Illinois, a practice that has put brick-and-mortar retailers at an unfair competitive disadvantage for far too long.

"Amazon.com is threatening to leave states and terminate relationships with all its affiliates rather than comply with this new law. As we have stated, we will gladly welcome these affiliates to the Sears Affiliate Team. We recognize and value our relationships with our over 6,500 affiliate partners AND the state and local communities we serve and we look forward to adding new affiliates.

"Sears Holdings thanks state lawmakers in the House and Senate for their overwhelming support for the bill and in particular wants to acknowledge the leadership of the main sponsors of House Bill 3659: Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago), Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) and State Representative Pat Verschoore (D-Milan)."

Too bad a great company like Amazon.com has to be punished and legally battled against by losers like Sears, which is lucky to even be solvent, and is among the worst retailers in the country, as voted by consumers with their dollars.

What should have been done was for the sales tax and/or state tax eliminated, which would have created a better business atmosphere to a state that is going down the tubes.

Cut back on government size and spending and you won't have to attempt to destroy quality companies that actually make a difference in society, instead of a parasitic government that siphons off the earnings to waste it on endlessly pork project to win votes.

Hopefully Amazon will stop working with their independent contractors in the state. Then when millions in taxes aren't put into the Illinois coffers because there is no one making any more money from Amazon, we'll see if Sears is considered in such high regard afterwards.

Amazon.com closed Thursday at $166.14, down $2.91, or 1.72 percent.