Williams-Sonoma Tax Deal With One City Leaves Others Crying Sham

Williams-Sonoma Inc. struck a deal in 2008 with the California city of Shafter: the company would open a call center there and designate it as the point of purchase for all online sales to California consumers. Shafter would then give half the local sales tax it collected back to Williams-Sonoma.

It was similar to other deals between California cities and e-commerce giants, with one key distinction according to the state tax department and 300 other municipalities: most of the sales didn’t happen in Shafter.

Instead, they say, Williams-Sonoma set up a sham “order review” process to make it appear the ...