Poll: Should Amazon.com Customers Have to Pay Tax?

If you've got items sitting in your Amazon shopping cart that you've not yet purchased, you might want to consider moving into the checkout line.

As we , Friday is the last day to buy from the online retailer tax-free: Amazon will begin charging sales tax on purchases for California residents this Saturday. Sales tax in L.A. County is 8.75 percent.

Up to now, buying online at Amazon.com saved customers money, since no sales tax was collected.

But state lawmakers in California–a state which desperately needs cash–reached an agreement last year with online retailers, including Amazon, who agreed to begin collecting a sales tax in September. Those sale tax funds will be returned to the state.

According to the LA Times, about half of the projected $316 million raised in the first full year–and put into state coffers–is expected to come from merchandise sold by Amazon.

While local retailers, as we noted earlier this week, will tend to be happy with the playing field being leveled a little bit, for the web-based consumer, the change will come with a price.

So we ask you - are you a big Amazon customer?  Will this affect you?  If so, are you happy to pay the tax?  Do you think it will benefit L.A. County and California?  Please share your thoughts in the comments.