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Rhode Island Affiliates Banned From Amazon.com Sales

Posted by timothy on from the oh-just-wait-for-the-feds-to-tax-it-instead dept.

Rand Huck writes "Amazon.com has now added Rhode Island to its blacklist of affiliates in response to its proposed budget changes to enforce a tax on Internet sales, which includes commissions on their affiliate program by content providers based in Rhode Island. The first state to be blacklisted was North Carolina, for the same reason. If you go to a Rhode Island-based or North Carolina-based website that advertises Amazon.com goods as an affiliate, that website will no longer have the goods available because otherwise Amazon.com would be forced to pay sales tax to the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations or the State of North Carolina. The state's rationale is, if someone clicks to buy a good from Amazon.com via a site based in Rhode Island, it's equivalent to buying a good from a brick and mortar chain store located in Rhode Island."

2 of 532 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Hopefully it will cut down on affiliate-link sp by tomhudson · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Let them pay their fair share of taxes,

    They already do, considering that they're consuming approximately 0% of the state's resources.

    Sales taxes are taxes on CONSUMPTION. The CONSUMER isn't paying their fair share, and Amazon is the enabler. Consumption taxes help pay for your local schools, etc. Your local retailer does their share, and so do their customers. Since Amazon's customers aren't paying their fair share of consumption taxes, your local retailer is paying MORE than their fair share. Your education budget is also taking a hit, as are other services. The "tax holiday" was supposed to be temporary - Amazon wants it to be permanent. Your local retailer would also like a tax holiday, you know ...

    Also, they DO consume a portion of your state's resources every time they ship something to or through your state. Extra pollution, wear and tear on the highways, and disposal costs for the packaging and ultimately the product itself when it breaks/wears out/becomes obsolete.

    Level the playing field.

  2. Re:Hopefully it will cut down on affiliate-link sp by tomhudson · · Score: 1, Redundant

    One of the reasons we are able to get things so cheaply on Amazon is BECAUSE they have lower operating costs. If they have to pay taxes, and if we have to pay sales tax on such things, it increases the costs for everyone.

    Sales taxes are consumption-based taxes. They're a tax on the consumer, based on residence. Amazon is enabling consumers to avoid paying their consumption tax. This "tax holiday" was supposed to be temporary. Congress has sat on their behind too long, so individual states are taking matters into their own hands and saying "We're going to enforce state law."

    If you buy something out of state, you're supposed to pay the sales tax to your local state and then apply for a reimbursement from the state you paid the original tax in.

    And how is buying from an Amazon affiliate the same as buying from a brick and mortar store? Two completely different concepts!

    We should try to keep thinks cheap.

    So what next - are you going to argue that people earning money off the Internet shouldn't pay income tax because it's two completely different concepts, and we should try to keep things cheap? Don't complain when your job gets off-shored.