Another Independent Bookstore Closes

Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher writes of the imminent closing of Vertigo Books. An interesting part of the commentary the owners provided in a letter to their customers points out the ramifications of local business a little more clearly than most.

"As Warren and Stewart put it: "Your shopping dollars help create the community you want to live in. . . . The money you spend with locally-owned businesses continues to circulate as we pay employees, buy supplies and pay taxes that are used to provide basic services to residents."

Amazon and other online booksellers have an unfair advantage because they still don't charge sales tax.."

And it is worth noting that not only do ecommerce sites not pay local sales taxes; they don't pay local real estate taxes, they don't employ local people, they don't buy groceries locally, they don't shop locally, in short, they don't support the local economy in any way.