Amazon.com spent $500,000 to lobby gov't in 2Q

WASHINGTON

Amazon.com Inc. spent $500,000 in the second quarter to lobby the federal government on online sales tax rules, credit card fees and other issues, according to a quarterly disclosure report.

That compares with $540,000 that the online retailing giant spent on lobbying in the first quarter and $320,000 that it spent on lobbying in the second quarter of last year.

Other issues that Amazon lobbied on in the latest quarter included proposed "network neutrality" rules that would prohibit phone and cable companies from discriminating against Internet traffic flowing over their broadband networks.

Amazon focused its lobbying on Congress during the second quarter, according to the disclosure report filed with the House and Senate clerks offices on July 20.