5 Star Affiliate Blogs

Since it passed in 2008, the New York statute has decimated the income of thousands of affiliate advertisers in the state as several large Internet retailers have terminated all affiliate agreements to avoid imposition of use tax collection responsibilities.

The battle is still raging in many states to raise state revenue via anti-affiliate legislation that could ultimately cost affiliates lost income and possibly even their businesses. New York affiliates know better than anyone

There is advertising tax news and some good new resources scattered around the web so I wanted to do a recap of the most recent updates.

New programs available through Google Affiliate Network include: ideeli, Credentify, Hobobags, Golfdiscount and MyTeeSpot

Schwarzenegger just committed – NO advertising tax in CA. Therefore Overstock overturned their decision to terminate affiliates! So that means Amazon and other companies won’t have to cancel their affiliate agreements in the state either!

This morning North Carolina and Hawaii affiliates awoke to some really bad news. Ahead of pending advertising tax legislation Amazon took a preemptive strike by dropping affiliates effective immediately.

The California advertising tax has been revived in a desperate attempt to help California’s budget crisis. AB178 was tabled earlier in the year, but they just added the anti-affiliate nexus language to the budget bill which could be voted on as early as this week.

North Carolina is so close to enacting the anti-affiliate sales tax that Amazon just sent notice to all NC affiliates letting them know that if the law is passed Amazon associates in the state will be dropped immediately.

New programs available through Google Affiliate Network include: Tiger GPS, SRS Labs, Chrono Shark, Diamond Shark, Butterflyphoto and HDOSport.com

California affiliates can breathe a sigh of relief, for now. The hearing for AB 178 was canceled yesterday which means we should be safe from this issue for the remainder of 2009

The anti-affiliate sales tax bills being debated by YOUR legislators, will have a serious, detrimental impact on your business. It will cause many merchants to shut down their affiliate programs in Connecticut and Hawaii. This has already happened in New York

The number of states that have affiliate sales tax legislation planned or pending is growing rapidly. So far California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Tennessee are the states we know about.

Connecticut legislation has changed and we are concerned their #Advertising Tax bill will fast track. Connecticut is a much larger challenge than we’ve faced so far. In California, we’re trying to convince 9 people who are on a committee. In Connecticut, it has moved out of committee, so now we need to convince 151 legislators.

David Lewis, Beth Kirsch and Peter Bordes – the panel will discuss the ins and outs of the law and why it would be bad for the affiliate marketing industry. Also learn how you can get involved in the efforts to halt this legislation.

Amazon announced that if the sales tax bills in Hawaii and Maryland pass they will be dropping affiliates in those states. Last week industry leading affiliates and affiliate managers stormed the California capital

If you are an affiliate marketer in California, your livelihood is at risk! If this bill passes, a firestorm of bills are sure to follow in other states. If you are a CA affiliate, merchant, network or OPM we need you to sign this group letter opposing the bill.

Minnesota is further ahead in the process than CA and they are already to the Senate level and the hearing is THIS THURSDAY. Minn affiliates contact me to connect and lobby.

If this passes in California, it virtually assures a firestorm of adoption by other states, which could devastate our entire industry. If we beat this bill, it will severely limit the adoption in other states.

This is no longer a state issue but a CRITICAL industry issue! How many states must pass an “Amazon Tax” before merchants stop firing affiliates and face facts that all states will get theirs?

Watch out California affiliates! There is a proposed bill modeled closely after the infamous New York “Amazon” tax. If it goes through not only will it hurt lots of California affiliates, but it is much more likely other states will follow suit.