Comments on: North Carolina Close to Enacting Affiliate Taxes; Amazon First to Pull the Plug

By: Amazon Calls NC Lawmakers Bluff, Cancels Affiliate Program Early - Web 2.0 Promotions

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:46:42 +0000

[...] appears as though Amazon’s email to affiliates regarding North Carolina’s pending taxes was not a bluff. I just received a [...]

By: Should You Fear the FTC’s Sponsored Blogging Crackdown? - Web 2.0 Promotions

Should You Fear the FTC’s Sponsored Blogging Crackdown? - Web 2.0 Promotions — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:05:49 +0000

[...] could hurt the revenues of those companies that rely on affiliate marketers. If Amazon is being proactive about protecting its affiliate revenue stream in one state, you can bet it’s going to try and [...]

By: VandeNikhilam USA » North Carolina Close to Enacting Affiliate Taxes; Amazon First to …

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:18:19 +0000

[...] the original post: North Carolina Close to Enacting Affiliate Taxes; Amazon First to … This entry is filed under Affiliate Revenue, PR, retail. You can follow any responses to this [...]

By: Internet Evolution - Jason Mick - Bleeding the Internet: NC Tax Kills State's Amazon Affiliates Program

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:59:40 +0000

[...] Before, these referral fees were supposed to be reported with income taxes. However, like many real-world referral fees, they typically go unreported. But under the new proposal, these referral rewards will be directly taxed. That has prompted Amazon.com to threaten to end its affiliates program in the state if the tax bill passes. The company recently sent its affiliates the following letter: [...]

By: IT Gov News - News For The IT Professional » Blog Archive » FTC To Focus On Professional Blogger Sponsorship Liability

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:44:41 +0000

By: North Carolina Close to Enacting Affiliate Taxes; Amazon First to Pull the Plug | SpeedContact

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:40:44 +0000

[...] See original here: North Carolina Close to Enacting Affiliate Taxes; Amazon First to Pull the Plug [...]

By: Amazon Decides to Game North Carolina Politics « The SiliconANGLE

Amazon Decides to Game North Carolina Politics « The SiliconANGLE — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:49:18 +0000

[...] muscles in an attempt to intimidate the state of North Carolina out of passing a new tax bill. Andy Beal over at Marketing Pilgrim has the story: It appears that North Carolina is about to follow New York’s lead and implement a tax collection [...]

By: Jamie Pelaez

Jamie Pelaez — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:08:23 +0000

This is absolutely a bad idea for the state of NC. Like many stated not only will other affiliate companies follow in Amazon’s foot steps…. This also means a lot of lost income for affiliates in NC, which means that NC’s plan to get more revenue from this will backfire. Not to mention many affiliates will be forced to move elsewhere to maintain their income and lifestyle. It is clear these states are not really thinking this through at all.

I hope NC gets a wake up call and figures out this will do more harm than good and decides to not put this into effect.

If not… I guess I am moving to TN or Virginia. I just moved here last summer from FL… I really love it here, planned on moving to the Asheville area to be in the mountains and still have a city life. However, if they pass this, I will be saying goodbye to NC if the projected downfall is true.

By: Amazon: North Carolina Affiliates Will Be Terminated When “Unconstitutional Tax Collection Scheme” is Enacted (Another Good Reason to Use Skimlinks?) » Patrick O’Keefe

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:52:01 +0000

[...] While reading a post by fellow North Carolina resident Andy Beal, I noticed that Tracy Needham pointed to Senate Bill 202. I went and pulled up the bill, which can [...]

By: Linda Buquet

Linda Buquet — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:30:38 +0000

For those that want to learn more…

AffiliateTip.com (not my blog) today has a very long post with tons of resources for learning more or getting involved to fight the NC tax. The Performance Marketing Alliance has detailed info about the advertising tax issue and keeps up with legislature in all the various states. The upcoming Affiliate Summit has 2 sessions devoted to discussing the advertising tax issues that threaten our industry.

If this bill passes other states will follow and if Amazon drops affiliates other merchants will follow.
We’ve been doing a good job of beating back the taxes in other states, I sincerely hope NC ends up voting this down.

Linda Buquet’s last blog post..East and West Coast Affiliate Bashes

By: Fred Waters

Fred Waters — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:26:32 +0000

There is no doubt that this tax sucks and makes no sense. What is also aggravating is that Amazon is using us as pawns. If this type of tax becomes a trend then companies like amazon and overstock are going to have to adjust to the reality or otherwise they will lose a significant part of their revenue. I can’t believe that Amazon can afford to terminate all affiliates in every state that takes on this tax.

Regardless, we need to contact our reps. Most are not aware of the ridiculous impact of these kinds of bills.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:53:45 +0000

Really stupid move for North Carolina. I am a resident of NC and a full time Internet Market who just quit his job a couple months ago to focus full time on my Internet business. I got the message from Amazon in my inbox this morning as well, luckily I don’t rely on any income from Amazon sales — but if this starts a trend and all other affiliates jump on board (which I’d expect they will) then this will end up being a bad state for an online business which rely on affiliate sales. Bad move, especially since North Carolina is always voted as #1 place to start a business. Other states rejected this legislation, why couldn’t NC do the same. I’m originally from New Jersey, been in NC almost 10 years, it’s been good to me, but it might be time to retreat!

By: Don Draper

Don Draper — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:44:26 +0000

I'm not the kind of person that writes their congressman, but I did this morning. Just enter your zip code at the NC Legislature website and you can get your rep and sen's email addresses: http://www.ncleg.net/GIS/RandR07/Representation.html#byZIP This won't affect just Amazon. If Amazon doesn't think it has the infrastructure to be able to collect these taxes, how are the smaller players going to do it? We're just going to effectively remove internet marketing as an option for NC Businesses. Don Draper's last blog post..Stupid Twitter Tricks to Get Your Account Suspended

By: Brennan

Brennan — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:29:03 +0000

Being someone who also has some affiliate businesses set up I am really keeping a close eye on this. This has to be one of the stupidest things a state can do in this economy as they are basically encouraging those who make their income from affiliate marketing to move out of the state. New York thought they were going to get a large bump in tax revenue from their new taxes but instead all of the businesses just moved to Connecticut and other places. I just don’t think it is smart to raise taxes in this economy and this will only end up hurting the state of North Carolina in the long run. I know a few affiliate marketers in Greensboro, Charlotte, and Raleigh who are now looking to move to nearby states. I think North Carolina should look at this again since they were just finally starting to get strong tech sectors in Charlotte and Raleigh and this could really spook some of those companies.

By: Tracy Needham

Tracy Needham — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:43:41 +0000

If this goes through it might be a lot more than Amazon. If you look at Senate bill 202, it seems to be ANY retailer that makes more than $10k from affiliate sales in NC will have to start collecting sales taxes from purchases in that state. That could prove to be big disincentive for a lot of the big internet marketers as well. Not to mention, the residents who have to pay the sales taxes if they don't discontinue their affiliate sales. Either way, it stinks and yes does seem to be a stupid idea in a recession. Tracy Tracy Needham's last blog post..SEO for Wordpress?Wordcamp Part 2