Pinching pennies: Amazon will begin collecting state and local sales taxes on online purchases shipped to Louisiana beginning Jan. 1, a Louisiana Department of Revenue spokesman confirms. Currently, Louisiana shoppers are legally required to keep track of sales taxes from Amazon and other online retailers, and remit it to the state and local municipality, but self reporting is low. LDR expects an increase in sales tax revenues next year as Amazon voluntarily takes on the burden of tracking and remitting sales tax from its Louisiana customers. The online sales giant is not required to collect the tax in Louisiana by law because it has no brick and mortar stores in the state.
Power play: Houston-based NRG Energy has switched from burning coal to natural gas at four power plants across its fleet, including one located in New Roads. NRG CEO Mauricio Gutierrez says the switch will significantly reduce greenhouse gas and other emissions, adding it allows the plants to continue meeting customer needs while complying with current environmental standards. Collectively, the modified units can generate more than 2,780 megawatts, enough power to meet the demands of more than two million average homes. The other plants are located in Joliet, Illinois; Shawville, Pennsylvania; and New Castle, Pennsylvania. Read the full announcement.
Louder than words: Though a little more than half of Americans say the working conditions of the businesses they frequent is important to them, a much smaller share are willing to pay more to support businesses that are seen as worker-friendly, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. About 53% of U.S. adults say it’s important for them to know something about a business’ pay and working conditions when deciding whether to patronize it. But even when they are able to identify businesses that provide good pay and working conditions (the survey says only 23% find it easy to get such information), about two-thirds of U.S. adults (67%) say it is hard to justify the additional cost involved in supporting such companies. Only 28% report that they often pay extra to support these types of businesses.
