Do they have AA programs for tax-addicted states?
"States target Web sales taxes; Seek new revenue, face protest from online retailers" by Rachel Metz, Associated Press | July 3, 2009
NEW YORK - In a big break for online shoppers, Web retailers generally don’t have to charge sales taxes in states where they lack a store or some other physical presence.
Increasingly, states aching under the weight of the recession are seeking a way around that rule.
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Because companies like Amazon.com Inc. get help drumming up sales from online affiliates - people who link to products on their blogs, promote Web shopping deals, and offer coupons - several states say the Internet retailers should charge sales taxes in states where those affiliates are based.
The financial benefits may not be quite what the states anticipate, though. Rather than gearing up to collect taxes, Amazon and other Web retailers are simply shutting down their affiliate marketing programs. As the small businesses that participate in these programs get cut off, a state could lose tax revenue rather than add to it....
That is the WAY these FUCKING MORONS do everything!!!!!!!!!!!
The amount of money at stake overall for state governments is somewhat murky. According to a recent University of Tennessee study, uncollected state and local taxes from online sales could total $7 billion this year. However, only a small part of this would stem from consumer purchases, because transactions between businesses make up the bulk of e-commerce sales. (Consumers are generally supposed to pay a “use tax’’ themselves on online purchases, but few do.)
Because any extra revenue is precious, several states, such as New York, have passed laws seeking to cash in on Web retailers’ affiliate relationships, while others are considering doing so....
Rebecca Madigan, founder of the Camarillo, Calif.-based Performance Marketing Alliance, which represents affiliate marketers, said because the crackdown could curtail the business generated by affiliates, “the states are sort of shooting themselves in the feet,’’ she said.
That’s not how the states see it....That's because they are NUMB from the neck up!
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