Under California law, companies that have "agents" in the state are required to collect a use tax. The Board of Equalization claimed that, since consumers who purchased items on-line from Borders.com could return them to Borders' stores, the stores acted as an agent for Borders.com. Therefore, Borders.com was required to collect a use tax.
"The court confirmed we were correctly applying the term agent, and that we are properly collecting this tax," says Anita Gore, a spokeswoman for the Board of Equalization.