3 Things You Should Know About Small Business: June 27

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- What's happening in small business today?

1. Amazon embraces state sales tax. After years of resistance, Amazon (AMZN) will double the number of states it collects sales tax in over the next 18 months, according to Fortune.

Starting July 1, Texas will be the first of eight states, followed by Pennsylvania and California in September.

The risk Amazon takes is whether customers will continue to shop on the retail giant's website as its lack-of-sales-tax advantage over bricks and mortar retailers vanishes.

Amazon is making the changes under duress, according to Fortune. As states face budget shortfalls, they are looking for ways to increase revenue and Amazon seemed to be an obvious target.

The online retailer has been able to avoid charging state sales tax because it does not have offices or warehouses in most states. Amazon has only collected sales tax in Kansas, Kentucky, New York, North Dakota and Washington. The controversial law requires that only companies with a physical presence in a state may collect sales tax, which offline merchants have criticized for years.

Recently the retailer began to compromise its position with states by agreeing to begin collecting sales tax, but at a later date, extended by months or, in some cases, years. The company has also agreed to open warehouses and create jobs in most of the deals.

2. Agriculture technology start-up raises $17 million. Technology innovation has traditionally been lackluster in the agriculture industry, but tech start-up Solum is looking to change that pattern, according to Inc.com.

The company's technology "obtains high-level soil nutrient information through hardware and software solutions previously unavailable to the agricultural community," the article says.

Solum just completed a $17 million series B round of financing led by Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, which might put Solum in pole position to shake up the "ag-tech space," Inc. com says.

Andreessen Horowitz typically makes investments in social media companies, so the shift could mean that Solum is on to something.