An independent bookseller in the U.K. has launched a petition on Change.org [3] to demand that Amazon [4] pay its "fair share of tax in the U.K."

The petition alleges that Amazon's "tax dodge" tactic is giving it an unfair business advantage that is "endangering many UK high street businesses".

The petition seems to have struck a chord [5] with the British, who've seen their traditional shopping districts affected by malls and the invasion of U.S. brands [6] like Starbucks. The petition now has over 100,000 signatures.

The organizers plan on presenting the petition to the U.K. government at 10 Downing Street.

Amazon [7] has in the past been accused of [8] avoiding local tax obligations by the U.K. government. Speaking before an official committee in late 2012, Amazon's spokesman was lambasted [9] when he could not explain to MPs exactly who owned the U.K. wing of Amazon and could not detail revenues generated in the British part of the business. The same committee criticized Starbucks and Google for similar tax-dodge tactics which involved shipping products cheaply to U.K. consumers, but headquartering the business elsewhere in Europe.

Do you believe Amazon, which has also come under criticism for sales ax issues [10] in the U.S., is not playing fair in Britain [11]?

[Image: Flickr user ezakicoo [12]]