Startup companies tend to operate in a bubble outside of the policies in Washington D.C. But the recent battle in Congress over the so-called fiscal cliff is having real impact,… Read More
Avalara appears to be cornering the market on office space near the ferry terminals in the Puget Sound region. The maker of sales tax automation technologies, which recently moved into… Read More
This could get pretty ugly for Microsoft. A new report out by the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has found that the software giant used subsidiaries in Puerto Rico, Ireland, Singapore… Read More
Shares of Blucora skyrocketed more than 26 percent on Friday after the Bellevue Internet search and tax software company formerly known as InfoSpace posted strong earnings. The stock was trading… Read More
Operating from a home base on Bainbridge Island, Avalara has quietly grown into a powerhouse in the arena of sales tax collection software. But the recent success has not escaped… Read More
One of Seattle’s longest-running Internet brands is being swept into the dust bin of history — and some may say it is about time. InfoSpace, the dot-com survivor founded by… Read More
The controversy over Nick Hanauer’s recent TED talk about increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans just isn’t going away. Yesterday, GeekWire and others reported on how Hanauer’s economic talk was… Read More
Seattle venture capitalist Nick Hanauer — an early investor in Amazon.com and aQuantive — certainly has strong opinions on economics and politics. And that’s one of the reasons why he… Read More
Investors are liking the new face of InfoSpace. The Bellevue company, a dot-com darling and survivor, transformed itself yet again with the $287 million purchase of online tax preparation company… Read More
Washington state has one of the best tax systems in the country when it comes to supporting entrepreneurship and small business, according to a report out this week from the Small… Read More
We’ve seen some interesting tax day promotions in our time, including Intuit’s installation of a golf driving range on Second Avenue in downtown Seattle today. Not to be outdone, Uber… Read More
Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing unit of the Seattle online retailer, notified customers in Washington state this week that it plans to begin collecting sales tax on the online… Read More
InfoSpace, the dot-com survivor that has pivoted multiple times throughout its 16-year history, is embarking on yet another voyage. The Bellevue company today announced the acquisition of TaxACT, the number… Read More
At a holiday gift sale I attended last weekend, a few of the vendors were using the new mobile payment technology from Square. That followed our own use of Square… Read More
Seattle venture capitalist Nick Hanauer was one of the most vocal supporters last year of Initiative 1098, a measure that would have raised funds for public education in Washington state… Read More
Avalara is based on Bainbridge Island, and the company’s software helps online merchants manage the mundane tasks of sales tax collection. Given those two attributes, it’s easy to understand why… Read More
Amazon.com has been striking deals with states over the collection of sales tax, but the Seattle online retailer’s bigger goal is federal legislation that addresses the issue. Today, the company… Read More
Amazon.com is showing a willingness to compromise on the sales tax collection issue, with the latest development occurring in Tennessee. According to a report by the AP, Tennessee Gov. Bill… Read More
California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law a compromise bill that will give Amazon.com a reprieve on collecting sales tax on purchases made in the state for another year.… Read More
ValueAppeal, the Seattle startup that allows home owners to lower property taxes through an online appeal process, has named Eric Brown as chief operating officer and moved to new offices… Read More
As a new Amazon affiliate, Shopobot co-founder Dave Matthews found himself in the middle of a big tax fight in California recently. It was a battle they couldn’t win. So, he and… Read More
Avalara, the fast-growing Bainbridge Island company that helps online merchants manage sales tax collection, has raised an additional $7 million in venture capital financing. Sageview Capital provided the funding, which… Read More
Amazon.com and California legislators have reached a compromise on sales tax collection in the state. As part of the deal, Amazon will not have to collect sales tax until September… Read More
[Follow-up: Amazon.com reaches truce in California sales tax battle ] Amazon.com is pushing hard (and funneling a lot of money) into an effort to repeal a California law that forces online… Read More
Y Combinator’s Paul Graham asks companies to take the patent pledge. The concept? Big companies shouldn’t use patents to bully small startups. “The patent pledge is in effect a narrower… Read More
A bit of legislative maneuvering in California could torpedo Amazon’s efforts to bring the online sales tax collection issue to the ballot next year. The Los Angeles Times reports that… Read More
The battle over online sales tax collection in California continues to heat up. Bloomberg News reports that Amazon.com has added another $2.25 million to a campaign to overturn a law… Read More
Let’s soak the rich. Apparently that’s what most Americans think should happen to reduce the deficit, including Warren Buffett. A recent CNN poll says that 63 percent of Americans want to raise… Read More
Amazon.com is facing a backlash in California where a group of citizens, supported in part by Democratic politicians, is urging a boycott of the Seattle online retailer. Operating under the… Read More
Too much money has flowed into too many Internet companies at astronomical valuations, leading Fortune’s Dan Primack to conclude that we are currently experiencing an “economic bubble” in which valuations… Read More