Well I Got The Email.
 

This will actually impact me a bit but I have never had all my eggs in one basket. I say props to Amazon for taking such a hard stand. This nonsense with government control of the net and the non stop tax assult on the American people needs to be battled.

Enjoy the read.


We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to notify you that your Associates account has been closed as of June 26, 2009. This is a direct result of the unconstitutional tax collection scheme expected to be passed any day now by the North Carolina state legislature (the General Assembly) and signed by the governor. As a result, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com after June 26. We were forced to take this unfortunate action in anticipation of actual enactment because of uncertainties surrounding the legislation’s effective date.

Please be assured that all qualifying referral fees earned prior to June 26, 2009 will be processed and paid in full in accordance with our regular referral fee schedule. Based on your account closure date of June 26, 2009, any final payments will be paid by September 1, 2009.

In the event that North Carolina repeals this tax collection scheme, we would certainly be happy to re-open our Associates program to North Carolina residents.

The North Carolina General Assembly’s website is http://www.ncleg.net/, and additional information may be obtained from the Performance Marketing Alliance at http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/.

We have enjoyed working with you and other North Carolina-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program, and wish you all the best in your future.


Best Regards,

The Amazon Associates Team

jesus god!

Wow wtf. Some crazy shit man, people better make some noise over this shit.

A good excuse to move out of NC.

I agree. For years these ass clowns running the state have tried to get you to claim all the online purchases you made so you can pay sales to the state. Luckily I have never bought anything online in my life..............

I knew something like this was coming.

I read yesterday that they are doing the same thing in Rhode Island, Amazon already turned them off.

I'm wondering though... could one get around this by incorporating and "setting up" in another state? I don't know enough about taxes and tax law to know the legalities of that. For someone that is depending on a service like Amazon for their livelihood, they may want to investigate that option.

I've been posting about how Amazon and Overstock and such are dealing with how New York was forcing them to collect sales tax because affiliates live in the state, and the state considers that a "physical presence" in the state.

So from their POV, maybe terminating all affiliates from the state is one way to avoid having to do peoples tax homework for them.

Some good lawyer needs to help these states define physical presence. Surely a guy or gal sitting at a computer in their spare room is not a store-front.

Definitely not. They are Internet marketers. They do marketing. That's where they make their money. They advertise a product for another company. That is not operating a retail store.

Exactly, the business relationship is between the affiliate and Amazon. They sell leads/clicks/sales (whatever) to Amazon.
WG

I think that the taxation is related to where the product is being shipped from/to. For example, if I purchase a product from a company physically located in California, I have to pay a state sales tax (thank goodness B&H Photo is in New York, lol).

ADG

It does seem obvious, doesnt it? These states are so hungry for cash to pull this shit.