Amazon's California Sales-Tax Reprieve Is Approved by Brown 9.23.2011
California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill in a compromise with Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) that gives the world's largest online retailer a one-year reprieve from collecting sales taxes on Internet transactions in the state.
Spilled Ink's Response to the Agreement between California and Amazon.com
Spilled Ink has been an affiliate for Amazon for many years. We were seriously dismayed when California interpreted affiliate ads on a physically out-of-state site funded by a Californian (whom collects no money from shoppers and pays income tax on associate revenue) as a "presence" in California.
It really does not make sense. Affiliates do not participate in sales transactions. We are literally digital billboards. Nothing more.
Additionally, while Spilled Ink sympathizes with California's mismanaged budget woes, we cannot approve of creative misinterpretations of the affiliate relationship for the purpose of claiming taxation the United States Supreme Court has already ruled they cannot collect.
Spilled Ink has agreed with Amazon's position until they decided to comply with California. It is a sad day for free enterprise. Regardless, Spilled Ink hopes Amazon will now reinstate the thousands of Californian affiliates who lost their "jobs" now that the agreement is official.
Spilled Ink is also an Amazon shareholder.
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