“LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Amazon.com said Friday that it would drop its online affiliates in Arkansas in response to a new state law that would have required the online retailer to start charging sales tax.
Lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year to require out-of-state online retailers like Amazon to collect sales tax from customers if their annual sales in the state exceed $10,000.
The bill applied to retailers with online affiliates, even if they don't have a physical presence in the state. Amazon pays advertising fees to a network of so-called Amazon Associates in the state, who promote the company on their websites.
State law requires consumers to pay sales taxes on items they buy online, but the burden is on them to report the purchases. Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other state retailers say that opens a loophole that hurts their businesses.
Amazon opposed changing the law, and this week, it notified associates by email that it would terminate their contracts on July 24…”
I have commented on this story in the past. I remember reporting on Amazon dropping affiliates in Illinois. Amazon also objected to some Texas law and was threating to drop affiliates in Texas. But Texas gave up and backed down.
Now the Texas matter was a bit different than Illinois and Arkansas. In Texas Amazon has a major distribution center and it sounds like they should have been paying sales taxes. But the fact that Amazon has the center also gave them some power here in Texas. Amazon said they would close the center and move it. Gov. Rick Perry and Texas gave up.
I am an Amazon Affiliate and have been since they started the program. In all those many years I bet I have not made more than $50.00 total. Now I do not push it big time. If I blog about some camera or something like that I sometimes put a link to Amazon if they have a good price for it.
But I feel very sorry for Amazon Affiliates and others that get kicked from the program.
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