

Gov. Jerry Brown signs Amazon sales-tax bill - minouye
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18963315

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heat_miser
All this will do is to hurt the smaller web retailers who will inevitably have
to track and pay sales tax. Some of whom are already on the brink and will
have to trim their payrolls, or fall to amazon.

So much for a "level playing field"

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Lost_BiomedE
I hope whatever eventually happens does not require me to fill out 49 tax
forms up to 4 times a year.

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Woost
I can't seem to find a non-fluff writeup of this story, though I've found a
bunch of similar versions.

From my understanding of the issue, California passed a law redefining
"presence" in a state so as to include companies which have affiliates in that
state. Businesses which have no affiliates (or advertising?) in California
still would not have to collect sales tax. Amazon was not too happy with this
situation, so they cut all of their affiliates in Cali, and proceeded to get
into politics. They agreed to reinstate/not proceed with cutting their
affiliates (I'm not sure if they actually cut or just threatened) in exchange
for a year long delay in collecting sales tax.

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mhartl
_I'm not sure if they actually cut or just threatened_

They cut the program. Before the California State Government (CSG) passed the
Amazon Tax, I was making over $1000/month in Amazon affiliate commissions,
which blew up on two days' notice. My account currently says "This account is
closed and will not generate referrals. Access to this site is for historical
purposes only." I've not yet seen any sign of the account being reinstated,
and I don't anticipate ever being compensated for the income lost while the
situation was in limbo.

Will the affiliate program for California residents eventually be restored?
Perhaps, but I wouldn't count on it, and God only knows what CSG will do next.
I'm currently in the process of moving my legal residence to Nevada, just in
case.

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Woost
So it's worse than I thought.

How does California justify collecting sales tax from Amazon if Amazon has no
affiliate network there, no advertising there, and no real presence?

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mhartl
According to the LA Times, they're going to restore the affiliate program. But
I already have one foot in Nevada, so I think it's too late.

 _How does California justify collecting sales tax from Amazon if Amazon has
no affiliate network there, no advertising there, and no real presence?_

It doesn't. Amazon avoids an expensive legal battle in exchange for collecting
sales tax. It's your garden-variety extortion, writ large.

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rshm
Please help me understand this. Is it only valid for Amazon or CA based
E-Commerce Sites or all sites selling to CA based customers.

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InclinedPlane
This article is mostly fluff, if someone has a link to a better explanation
somewhere else that would be greatly appreciated.

As far as I can tell this is California overstepping its bounds and attempting
to tax out of state entities.

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minouye
From an affiliate perspective, this potentially means that Amazon and other
merchants will reinstate California affiliates. Some smaller merchants have
already sent out reinstatement notices.

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droithomme
Wow that article sure is unbiased!</sarcasm>

But seriously, every state has a different rate, every county, every city. The
article mentions a federal solution is up next. So what, a federal database by
address of the rates each person is in, and 52 filings per year for the 50
states plus DC plus Puerto Rico, and a requirement to register each purchase
with this system? Gee, that should help small business a lot.

