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View Full Version : Amazon Plays Hardball With IL Over New Sales Tax Law




Kludge
01-09-2011, 07:05 PM
"Amazon is no fan of collecting state sales taxes, and it's ready to play hardball once again in its attempt to avoid the levy. An e-mail sent from the company to all of its Illinois affiliates this morning warns that, should Illinois Governor Pat Quinn sign a just-passed tax bill, Amazon is cutting off every affiliate in Illinois.

"We regret to inform you that the Illinois state legislature has passed an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that, if signed by Governor Quinn, would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with Illinois-based Associates," said the e-mail.

Illinois wants Amazon to collect 6.25 percent sales tax and send it back to the state. Under current law, only companies with a physical presence in the state have to do this, but the new bill declares that even having affiliates in Illinois counts as "presence.""

Full story @ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/hell-no-we-wont-go-out-of-our-way-to-collect-sales-taxes.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

puppetmaster
01-09-2011, 08:09 PM
fuck IL......good on Amazon

jclay2
01-09-2011, 08:26 PM
This is unfortunately my home state. Illinois's finances are a disaster. Right now there is only enough money for half of the budget. Plus, the state is behind on 6 billion dollars from previous years payments. Now the states solution is to raise the FLAT income tax up from 3% to 5.25%. Also, the corporate tax will be going up from 4.8% to 8.4%. They have not considered cutting spending. Their only solution is to raise taxes. Given that the Illinois Pension System is so Underfunded, the state will be back to crisis state in no time if they somehow figure a way to wiggle around the current situation.

libertybrewcity
01-09-2011, 09:01 PM
if it passes, they will probably see migration or more will thrown out of office come the next election

Live_Free_Or_Die
01-09-2011, 09:07 PM
fuck IL......good on Amazon

+1

aGameOfThrones
01-10-2011, 02:51 AM
A few comments from the site:


Awesome example of taxes killing jobs...actually one of the better ones. I'm a Democrat myself and a resident of the above mentioned NC. While I'm in favor of net neutrality, the health-care bill, and many other things labeled "job killers" when they really aren't.This is one I can even see clearly is....especially when someone like Amazon refuses to partner with businesses in the state.

Politicians sell online distributors as a revenue lost from local sales to online out-of-state companies. In truth, it's usually a completely different type of product bought online vs. locally...and in Amazon's defense, while we pay taxes in exchange for police protection, fire departments coming to our rescue, and other services. What state services does an online store use or benefit from with no physical location? ...and why tax them out of the state when we're turning right around and paying that tax money to other companies to come here?

and...


Time to get rid of sales tax, just put it onto income tax where it's supposed to be.

cindy25
01-10-2011, 04:37 AM
finally a company with the guts to say NO

Stary Hickory
01-10-2011, 05:25 AM
I agree fuck IL, let them rot. Illinois needs to cut spending and get rid of the damn leeches in the state rather than rape it's tax base even more.

Always so quick to screw over honest hardworking people...never do they cut spending and cut back on the sycophant class.

Kelly.
01-10-2011, 11:07 AM
amazon cut off ties to its affiliates in colorado once colorado starting requiring them to collect taxes too.

ref: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/14/amazoncolorado-tax-fallou_n_498463.html

angelatc
01-10-2011, 11:15 AM
Rhode Island and North Carolina, too. Plus they were battling with New York, and I was under the assumption that the NY market was too big to pull out of.

I'm not sure why the states have their panties in a bunch. If an affiliate lives in, say, CO - that person pays tax on his or her affiliate income. The state wants to tax it twice? They want to tax the purchase because it came from a random internet link *and* tax the commission as income? Greedy thugs.

JamesButabi
01-10-2011, 11:16 AM
They already cut off RI. Really sucks for me because I would have made a great commission being an affiiliate.

tangent4ronpaul
01-10-2011, 11:26 AM
What other companies have affiliate programs?

A boycott campaign might be in order for any company that does not follow Amazons lead.

-t

Kylie
01-10-2011, 12:10 PM
What other companies have affiliate programs?

A boycott campaign might be in order for any company that does not follow Amazons lead.

-t


Not a bad idea at all.