Every time you buy something online, you pay a toll.You just never see it.It doesn't show up on your receipt.
No politician voted for it.But it's baked into the price of nearly everything you buy, and it flows straight into the pockets of the most powerful corporations on earth.That's the racket Amazon built.
The Senate finally has a chance to break it by passing the bipartisan American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA).When Amazon first opened its marketplace, it took roughly 19 cents of every dollar an independent seller earned.Today it takes close to half.
Listing fees.Advertising fees.
Fulfillment fees.Penalties for sellers who dare to offer a better price somewhere else.
A small business owner in Ohio or Arizona forks over 45 to 50 cents on the dollar just for the privilege of reaching customers Amazon already cornered.BIPARTISAN LAWMAKERS WANT TO STRIP BIG TECH'S LEGAL IMMUNITY THAT CAN SHIELD SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIESSellers can't eat those costs.So they raise prices.
And Amazon punishes any seller who charges less on another website.List your product cheaper on your own store, and Amazon buries you in their search results.
So prices climb everywhere, on every site, whether you shop at Amazon or not.This tollbooth taxes the entire internet.
Groceries, gadgets, the everyday basics in every family budget all carry the same invisible markup.Sen.Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is seen in the U.S.
Capitol during votes related to the government shutdown on Thursday, October 16, 2025.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)It gets worse.
Amazon's marketplace is flooded with sellers shipping cheap goods straight from China, dodging the safety rules, tariffs, and taxes that American businesses can't escape.The family shop on Main Street follows every rule and still loses shelf space to faceless overseas operations that follow none.
Amazon's own search results often push shoppers toward those listings, because cheap goods move fast and the fees roll in ...