Well … Can’t say that I’m all that surprised. I’m an Amazon.com affiliate. I live in Rhode Island and the RI politicos have an “Amazon Tax” type law being bandied about in the RI Capitol building. Hasn’t been passed yet but I did receive the following email from the Amazon.com Associate program …

Regarding RI’s HB 6164 Bill (hasn’t been passed yet)

We regret to inform you that the Rhode Island state legislature is preparing to pass an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that, if passed and not vetoed by the governor, would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with Rhode Island-based Associates. You are receiving this e-mail because our records indicate that you are an Amazon Associate and resident of Rhode Island.
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, we will have to terminate the participation of all Rhode Island residents in the Amazon Associates program on or before the day on which is it enacted. 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 Rhode Island residents.

Note that 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 governor’s website is http://www.governor.ri.gov, the Rhode Island legislature’s website is http://www.rilin.state.ri.us, 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 next steps.

Sincerely,

Amazon.com

For the record, I haven’t done all that much stuff with Amazon.com recently and IF the law passes here in RI then I’ll obviously be terminated from the Amazon Associate program. Financially, it won’t faze me, initially but IF all the other merchants follow suit THEN me and other RI affiliates could be in deep doo-doo!

BUT … The whole idea of this net tax “end around” moves by cash-strapped states disgusts me. A lame attempt to increase tax revenue but in reality, probably will backfire on them.

For example … IF this law passes here in RI, then Amazon.com (or any other merchants for that matter) CAN/WILL terminate my affiliation with them. Then that means me, as the former affiliate, will no longer be able to earn any income from that merchant and therefore since I’m making less money, I’ll not be paying ANY income tax on what I “might” have earned from any affiliate earnings.

So WHERE, pray tell, does THAT help the state’s economy? IF that (affiliate income) is a person’s main source of income then it now dries up and they are no longer contributing to the state’s revenue flow at all. Gonna cost the state MORE money in long run.

BAH!!!

DON’T think it can’t happen in YOUR state? They’ll most likely try to do it too – eventually. Below is one site where you can find more info about this and the states affected so far.

http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com

Also keep an eye out on Shawn Collins Affiliate Tip blog:

http://blog.affiliatetip.com

AND

Linda Bouquet’s 5 Star Affiliate Blog

http://affiliate-blogs.5staraffiliateprograms.com

Tags: moron legislators, RI HR 6141 Bill, rhode island net tax, amazon tax, net tax, affiliates, amazon.com, amazon associates program