[mellie]

North Carolina is another state looking to add affiliate tax. Bills in both Houses, introduced earlier this month. Both currently in Committee.

Their bill is just about identical to NY's bill. NC also includes download tax

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2009&BillID=S487
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2009&BillID=H558


(Just a short post to alert NC affiliates. I was trying to take today as a family day for Interment/Memorial service. I will be back on tomorrow)

[Alan Hamilton]

I feel your pain Mellie. You are a gem... :)

[mellie]

Still in committee, no apparent action.

[TerriFalcone]

NC even has sales tax on staple foods ( I'm not talking about soda pop ) which shocked me when I moved here. This is no way for them to prop up the economy and keep people off the dole. Affiliates by and large are not in the top 5 percent of income earners so why bring on another onerous tax when business is hurting? Think it will make up for the billions tossed down the black hole of wall street and banking firms?

[JoyUnltd]

NC even has sales tax on staple foods ( I'm not talking about soda pop ) which shocked me when I moved here.OMG...and I was thinking about moving down there. Didn't know they were such a tax-happy state--and I thought NJ was bad. Another state bites the dust of misunderstanding.

[Shawn Collins]

Sam Harrelson just Tweeted: Got an email from Amazon saying all NC associates will be terminated within the next 2 weeks due to the "Amazon Tax."

http://twitter.com/samharrelson/status/2205471093

[chefleach]

Here's the notice Amazon sent out (apparently to NC affiliates):



We regret to inform you that the North Carolina state legislature (the General Assembly) appears ready to enact an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with North Carolina-based Associates. You are receiving this e-mail because our records indicate that you are an Amazon Associate and resident of North Carolina.
Please note that this is not an immediate termination notice and you are still a valued participant in the Associates Program. All referral fees earned on qualified traffic will continue to be paid as planned.
But because the new law is drafted to go into effect once enacted – which could happen in the next two weeks – we will have to terminate the participation of all North Carolina residents in the Amazon Associates program on or before that same day. After the termination day, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com nor will we accept new applications for the Associates program from North Carolina residents.
The unfortunate consequences of this legislation on North Carolina residents like you were explained in detail to key senators and representatives in Raleigh, including the leadership of the Senate, House, and both chambers’ finance committees. Other states, including Maryland, Minnesota, and Tennessee, considered nearly identical schemes, but rejected these proposals largely because of the adverse impact on their states’ residents.
The North Carolina General Assembly’s website is http://www.ncleg.net/, and additional information may be obtained from the Performance Marketing Alliance at http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/.
We thank you for being part of the Amazon Associates program, and we will apprise you of the General Assembly’s action on this matter.

Sincerely,
Amazon.com

[Rich Owings]

I received it too. What's the best way to fight this? Is there an organized strategy that worked in other states? Anybody want to meet in Raleigh to talk to legislators? I started a Twitter hashtag #nc-affiliate-tax.

[SeymourButts]

This is rather disappointing.

[Matt Enders]

I received it too. What's the best way to fight this? Is there an organized strategy that worked in other states? Anybody want to meet in Raleigh to talk to legislators? I started a Twitter hashtag #nc-affiliate-tax.

I was really hoping this one would die in committee, like so many others did. This is the first I heard of it moving forward in quite some time.

I live in NC and mgecom is located in NC as well. We are a few minutes from downtown Raleigh. I am completely open to any organized efforts we can put into place. Please let me know if anyone else local is open to an organized push, perhaps similar to what was done in CA. you can reach me at matt.enders(at)mgecom.com.

[Rich Owings]

Going with #ncaffiliatetax instead of #nc-affiliate-tax due to how some clients handle dashes.

[Chuck Hamrick]

One of my top affiliates emailed me about this:

Just received a notice from Amazon that they will terminate all affiliates in NC if bill 558 passes. I just forwarded the information to my local reps.

Starting to hit closer to home?

[Markiphone]

It now appears that Amazon has figured out how to motivate its affiliates to speak up (contact their legislators and point out what NC will lose with this law). If only they had done this before the earlier hearings, they would have had more chance of success.

[Rich Owings]

Everything I had read referred to a tax on "digital downloads" so I didn't think it affected all affiliate sales.

[stephensmith]

I am in NC and I got the Amazon email today. I live in the Triangle. Anyone else in the area up for an emergency meeting at a coffee shop or somewhere? I'd prefer Chapel Hill or Durham but realize that somewhere in the middle might be better for many folks -- say, RTP? - Steve

[Rich Owings]

Can someone in the Triangle arrange for us to meet with the appropriate legislative committee?

[Matt Enders]

I just posted on Twitter that I'm volunteering to host anyone who wants to come in and talk about strategy in our offices early next week. We are in Cary, if interested contact me.

matt.enders (at) mgecom.com
(919) 650-2381 x201
@mattenders on Twitter

I've also reached out to the Senators and Representatives who are sponsoring and cosponsoring the bill. Hopefully by next week I will have some sort of reply from them.

Additionally, I've contacted WRAL, the Raleigh News, ABC11, and the N&O in attempts to get media interest to cover the developments.

I'm open to any other ideas or suggestions. Organization worked in CA, and we can do the same here.

[Matt Enders]

Quick update: I just spoke with a reporter from the Raleigh N&O who is working on this story right now. We're going to be talking details about the affect of the bills very soon so he can include more information in his story.

[crlharris]

I also live in the area and am willing to meet with anyone on this matter. Can meet in Cary, Raleigh, Durham, wherever.

Thus far looks like Matt Enders has extended his place as a meeting location. Will take him up on that and hope others will also.

[Matt Enders]

Everyone in NC and anyone interested in helping. Here is the plan for Monday and Tuesday of next week thus far:

Monday, June 22, 2009
2:00 pm meeting at mgecom offices to discuss strategy

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
8:00 am: meeting time at the North Carolina General Assembly
8:30 am: House Finance Committee standing weekly meeting
1:00 pm: Senate Finance Committee standing weekly meeting

The remainder of the times available on Tuesday will be spent in attempts to find, and secure meeting times with any bill sponsors, cosponsors, or finance committee members. I will continue to attempt to secure these meeting times in advance, however, we may have to act quickly on-site to locate the correct people.

I also posted about this on Twitter, so if anyone wants to RT that post, please do.

[Rexanne]

Dam . NC doesn't fool around, huh?

Wishing you all in NC the very best of luck beating this one into the ground. It's very scary when Amazon starts dropping affiliates - they were the first to rally against the NY tax mess and I expected more from them. :-(

[GlobalGolf-Amanda]

Yes, I got that email from Amazon too. I wasn't even aware of this until today - I too thought it just affected digital downloads?

Wish I could make the meeting on Monday; unfortunately I'm not available due to work obligations. Is there anything else we can do?

[mellie]

First wrote about this back in March. The battle fighting against these bills is much easier early on.

The pending legislation is for modernizing the sales tax laws including revising retailer and nexus to include affiliates, solicitor.. Similar to NY law with a $10,000 total sales from NC affiliates or others to NC residents plus the ability to rebut the presumption.

You need to not only read and watch the legislation mentioned above, you need to watch the pending budget talks for additional action.

[jamuhn]

I also support the fight against this bill, I already wrote my legislators explaining how it will affect me, my family and any future business people will consider doing in NC. I would like to meet in person and help too, but I will be traveling for a bit. Good luck and thanks to everyone fighting to stop this!

[Matt Enders]

Regardless of if anyone is able to join in the in-person fight next week, please consider signing the online petition against the tax bill. We will be delivering the signature list to representatives Tuesday morning.

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/ncaffiliatetax/