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Amazon and Overstock sent letters to thousands of their affiliates in CA.
States are getting desparate for revenue and changing the rules mid-game to online retailers isn't going to go over very well.
Web retailers end some California relationships - USATODAY.com
"In response, Amazon.com and Overstock.com ended their relationships with thousands of California-based Web affiliates. The trade publication Internet Retailer has said Amazon had more than 10,000 affiliates; Amazon wouldn't comment. An "affiliate" is a website with advertising that links buyers to sites such as Amazon and Overstock and receives a commission from related sales.
Seattle-based Amazon called the new law "unconstitutional and counterproductive" in the termination letter it sent to California-based members of its Amazon Associates Program."
Bravo to Amazon... except they did cave in to NY taxes... I guess even NYers need even better prices because of all the taxes they already pay... It would of been interesting if Amazon closed the NY affiliates too...
Bravo to Amazon... except they did cave in to NY taxes... I guess even NYers need even better prices because of all the taxes they already pay... It would of been interesting if Amazon closed the NY affiliates too...
Since Amazon did that all of my amazon stuff gets shipped to my brother's house in CT with no sales tax on amazon. One way to beat the tax.
Amazon and Overstock sent letters to thousands of their affiliates in CA.
States are getting desparate for revenue and changing the rules mid-game to online retailers isn't going to go over very well.
Web retailers end some California relationships - USATODAY.com
"In response, Amazon.com and Overstock.com ended their relationships with thousands of California-based Web affiliates. The trade publication Internet Retailer has said Amazon had more than 10,000 affiliates; Amazon wouldn't comment. An "affiliate" is a website with advertising that links buyers to sites such as Amazon and Overstock and receives a commission from related sales.
Seattle-based Amazon called the new law "unconstitutional and counterproductive" in the termination letter it sent to California-based members of its Amazon Associates Program."
You don't work for Amazon's Legal Department, do you?
Apparently neither you or anyone you know has had to close their retail store due to the unfair tax advantage pressed by the on-line sales companies.
What are you and the rest of us going to do in 25 years, when all your other retail options are exhausted? Do you think Amazon and the other on-line sales companies are gonna take it easy on us, once they realize they have a monopoly? Or do you think they mightbe tempted to raise their rates occasionally?
California is doing the right thing, joining 13 other states (including Texas) in trying to corral billions in lost revenue to on-line sales and level the playing field for its local small business community. Texas estimates it is short-changed approximately $600 million a year. So far, its bills to Amazon have gone unpaid. Amazon is claiming its huge distribution center in Irving does not constitute a physical presence in the state.
NY has been collecting since 2008, and Amazon just lost a court appeal there. The writing is on the wall- Amazon can either do the responsible thing in the US and start charging sales tax, or peddle its crap to the 250 people in India who can afford it.
You don't work for Amazon's Legal Department, do you?
Apparently neither you or anyone you know has had to close their retail store due to the unfair tax advantage pressed by the on-line sales companies.
What are you and the rest of us going to do in 25 years, when all your other retail options are exhausted? Do you think Amazon and the other on-line sales companies are gonna take it easy on us, once they realize they have a monopoly? Or do you think they mightbe tempted to raise their rates occasionally?
California is doing the right thing, joining 13 other states (including Texas) in trying to corral billions in lost revenue to on-line sales and level the playing field for its local small business community. Texas estimates it is short-changed approximately $600 million a year. So far, its bills to Amazon have gone unpaid. Amazon is claiming its huge distribution center in Irving does not constitute a physical presence in the state.
NY has been collecting since 2008, and Amazon just lost a court appeal there. The writing is on the wall- Amazon can either do the responsible thing in the US and start charging sales tax, or peddle its crap to the 250 people in India who can afford it.
The states have been letting them do that for years now with not a word.
Now that states are short revenues all of a sudden they NEED that tax and cry "unfair".
It's more principle here...don't go changing the rules of the game midway through the game. The states should have started right off the bat with this. The current rules are if a business is IN that state physically then they have to charge tax to customers also living in that state and buying from them.
A distribution center is not a walk in business..they are not selling anything from that distribution center.
All you pro-collect-sales-tax-for-out-of-state-sales cheerleaders have OBVIOUSLY never been in a position of having to actually collect those taxes on Internet sales.
Charging the appropriate tax rate in just ONE state is a daunting enough task. Doing it in all fifty would be IMPOSSIBLE. There are at least 7500 tax jurisdictions in the country - maybe as many as twice that figure. Who can administer that list? How can it possibly be kept up to date?
The laws already exist for charging sales tax on purchases made in other states. If you're not reporting those purchases and paying the appropriate taxes, you're in violation of the law. Why don't the tax authorities enforce the existing laws, instead of trying to strongarm companies into doing something extremely costly and error prone that they shouldn't have to do in the first place?
These cases that use the "affiliates equal a physical presence" argument is nothing more than the state(s) crying about the progression of the commerce system. I was an Amazon affiliate. I currently employ Google's adsense on a number of sites, and I utilize the eBay API on one. I don't work for either of these companies, and I never worked for Amazon. Anyone that knows anything at all about how affiliate programs work knows that this argument is completely baseless, and nothing more than the state(s) grasping at straws.
Apparently neither you or anyone you know has had to close their retail store due to the unfair tax advantage pressed by the on-line sales companies.
Good point but it's great argument for the implementation of a national sales tax or some kind of agreement between all the states to standardize sales tax. It just becomes way too complicated for small business's that want to expand into other states. If they wanted too Amazon has the resources to manage this, not so for the little guy.
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One way to beat the tax.
