For years, failing big box retailers have blamed sales taxes for their inability to compete with Amazon. Now they’re going to have to prove it. Amazon is charging sales tax in every state that has one.

45 states have statewide sales taxes. That is, every state but Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon have them. Which means in every state but those, Amazon will be charging you sales taxes on your purchases. It’s a done deal.

According to all those old, cronyist local businesses who first blamed Walmart for their failures, but now are blaming Amazon, that should fix everything. They’ve been assuring us that the only reason people buy online instead of locally is that people didn’t pay sales taxes on their online purchases.

Selection never came into it, allegedly. Nor did lower base prices, convenience of shopping from home, and a desire to avoid rude or apathetic retail employees. According to the industry lobbyists, sales taxes were everything.

Well, now the sales tax playing field has been leveled. If the big boxes continue to fail, and Amazon continues to succeed, we’ll know what the truth was all along, won’t we?

One interesting part about this is that Amazon certainly isn’t afraid to fight the government on unfair taxes. They just beat the IRS to the tune of $1.5 billion. Billion with a B.