Oh man, was I ever excited when I heard that there may be a new internet tax so that everyone will have to pay x% tax on their purchases online! I haven’t heard better news since I found out my property tax went up again and the value of my house went down again! Woo-hoo! Be happy everyone!
This is a crucial time in US history; we are on the verge of eliminating the jobs of thousands of people that earn their living by driving sales to large businesses, all in the name of getting more tax money out of the pockets of the average citizen.
All ‘affiliate marketers’ do basically is get folks like you and me to buy digital cameras for example from website “X” and they make a small commission on the sale. It’s pretty straight forward; they are a sales person for the large business that gets the sale. It’s like a sales person standing in that store, except that it’s all on your computer and that sales person is the person writing that blog you’re reading so you don’t even realize they are selling you something. (Well, to some degree anyway.)
We ourselves have just started to offer buy Sony digital camera online on our site as an Amazon affiliate. Thankfully we are in Minnesota, not NC!
What do you mean about thousands of people losing their jobs and being out of work? I thought we would just have to start paying State tax on purchases on Amazon, why would they be out of work?
Amazon has taken the preemptive step of canceling ALL affiliate programs in any State that says they will collect this sales tax. You all probably know about North Carolina already; if you sold for Amazon and live in NC, you just lost your job. And the law isn't even passed yet!
Can we please get North Carolina on the phone? … Hello? NC? Uhm, yeah, do you see how much revenue Amazon is going to be bringing you with your new tax? Yeah, it looks like it will be about 7% on ZERO DOLLARS so really good work, keep it up!
How many people just took a severe pay cut and will have less money to spend on local businesses everywhere in NC? What if they can no longer pay their mortgage, now we have even more houses on the flooded market that nobody can buy. What if they were a small to mid sized company that specialized in affiliate marketing? Now they will have to lay off employees or move out of state!
One marketer I know saw a 40% drop in income due to losing his affiliate account. 40% of his income gone! So what can you do?
- Create an overseas company? Yeah right, you want to send your checks overseas and then back and deal with all that hassle and probably raise flags with the IRS?
- Uproot your family, sell your home and move out of state? Just not a viable option.
- Create a company out of state and fake it? Yeah… have fun playing with the IRS!
I’m not going to try and suggest solutions to work around the problem if you live in NC. I'm not a lawyer, I'm not familiar with taxation law and I know I would say something very wrong and end up in hot water! Not something I’m interested in doing to be sure.
There should be something you can do, there always is. If you are serious about affiliate marketing in NC and make your income from it, then consult a lawyer. Talk with specialists, somebody who knows tax law forwards and backwards erectile dysfunction cialis as well as someone who knows about the business end of things and I’m sure you can figure something out together. There are already States that have declared that they will not collect this tax and they will be safe for you to conduct your place of business.
You do not want to play around with trying to cheat or fool the IRS. Don’t take chances with your future and your freedom and trade them both in for a jail cell.
North Carolina… What can I say? It seems as though all you care about it trying to get every penny from the residents there, and you never stopped to wonder what Amazon might do. Did you even bother to ASK THEM what they would do?
I guess you now know what they would do. What are you going to do about it? As for me, I’m going back to my digital camera repair work, and hopefully this situation will sort itself out soon! Unfortunately when it comes to Sony digital camera repair it’s difficult to inform people that affordable repair options are out there!
