Big Tech Backlash

MIKE DAVIS: Congress must finally kill the hidden tax in your online shopping cart

Senator Chuck Grassley reintroduced AICOA alongside bills targeting Apple's app fees and Google's ad monopoly

By Mike Davis Fox News

Published June 13, 2026 6:25am EDT

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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 COMPANIES

Sellers can't eat those costs. So they raise prices. And Amazon punishes any seller who charges less on another website.........

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