Dear Colorado-based Amazon Associate:
We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to inform you that the Colorado government recently enacted a law to impose sales tax regulations on online retailers. The regulations are burdensome and no other state has similar rules. The new regulations do not require online retailers to collect sales tax. Instead, they are clearly intended to increase the compliance burden to a point where online retailers will be induced to “voluntarily” collect Colorado sales tax — a course we won’t take.We and many others strongly opposed this legislation, known as HB 10-1193, but it was enacted anyway. Regrettably, as a result of the new law, we have decided to stop advertising through Associates based in Colorado. We plan to continue to sell to Colorado residents, however, and will advertise through other channels, including through Associates based in other states.
There is a right way for Colorado to pursue its revenue goals, but this new law is a wrong way. As we repeatedly communicated to Colorado legislators, including those who sponsored and supported the new law, we are not opposed to collecting sales tax within a constitutionally-permissible system applied even-handedly. The US Supreme Court has defined what would be constitutional, and if Colorado would repeal the current law or follow the constitutional approach to collection, we would welcome the opportunity to reinstate Colorado-based Associates.
You may express your views of Colorado’s new law to members of the General Assembly and to Governor Ritter, who signed the bill.
Your Associates account has been closed as of March 8, 2010, and we will no longer pay advertising fees for customers you refer to Amazon.com after that date. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to March 8, 2010, will be processed and paid in accordance with our regular payment schedule. Based on your account closure date of March 8, any final payments will be paid by May 31, 2010.
We have enjoyed working with you and other Colorado-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program, and wish you all the best in your future.
Best Regards,
The Amazon Associates Team
Well, son of a ….
Way to go Coloradon’t.
It’s enough to make you paranoid.
You are not paranoid if they are really out to get you.
RI pulled that crap too. Did you ever imagine that you’d be a brick and mortar Amazon outlet? And can you believe that California hasn’t thought of it yet?
With the internet being worldwide how is it determined that an Associate is Colorado based? By your home address? The address of your ISP? Where the servers are?
Way to go Colorado indeed. I got three orders in before the deadline.
Michigan simply hits everyone on their income tax form with a “use tax” which is based on your income unless you can prove you made fewer online purchases than the “use tax” covers.
Fuck, I need toner too. What exactly did they think was going to happen?
Gotta ask, if you ported this sucker to Blogger and ran it out of Mountain View, would you be able to say you were a California based associate?
Sounds like a case of cutting off their nose to spite their face. Makes a lot of sense, punish all the users to make a point to a bunch of clueless lawmakers.
It’s based on the address they send the checks to.
Pablo,
No need, really. Most online retailers have warehouses in CA, so the state collects sales tax from California costomers already.
that’s on hold in California right now I think Mr. P
That’s about backwards. According to the law, if they’re paying affiliates in the state, they must charge sales tax on all sales made into the state. The path of least resistance is to not have the affiliates, and the net effect of the law is that the affiliates get dumped.
Does Amazon currently collect CA sales tax?
Sounds like it’s time for an offshore account in the Caymans.
Here’s a story that sounds kinda like yours, only funnier.
Colorado should watch where they’re driving…
Well, I have a home mailbox and a PO Box that you could use rent free as long as you wanted.
“Well, I have a home mailbox and a PO Box that you could use ”
OUTLAW!!
“Well, I have a home mailbox and a PO Box that you could use rent free as long as you wanted.”
Let me check the laws in TX and I may second that offer. May as well set up the black market in advance of the communism this time….
Heh, lee.
Technically, I doubt there is an issue with giving Amazon any mailing address you’d like. They’re not the gov and they just want a mailing address. Jeff’s only exposure would be forgetting to declare this as income in Colorado but that’s true regardless of where they mail his checks.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/amazon-reacts-to-colorado_n_490028.html
Stuff here too. I’m really sorry to hear of this, Jeff. Screwballs just lost themselves some market share, plus it looks like the Dem rout will extend into Denver next election
Comment get eaten?
Huh.
Perhaps this is not the final word.
Dumping the affiliates might be aimed at getting them mad enough to scream at the CO lawmakers directly.
It’s one thing to have Evil Corporation Amazon backing/opposing some measure and quite another for the voters to show up on your doorstep with a video camera and a YouTube account, IYKWIMAITYD.
Somebody shoulda told the CO legislature this:http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/25949.html before they passed this stupid law.
Sorry to hear about it, Jeff.
Sorry, there’s supposed to be a link there after “this:”.
“…to take affiliates out of the equation…”
That reads as though the authors in question have lost their minds. They build a rationale to satisfy the USSC ruling, then retain everything but the underlying justification (in state presence of affiliate in place of brick and mortar establisment), dropping that, and then pretend they still satisfy the necessary condition? It seems goofy on its face. Though that seeming could be a function of a poor transmission belt in the article.
OT: *, Dan Rather, RAAAAACIST!
Turns out that Amazon has a distribution center in Irving TX, so I doubt it would help.
OT, off Drudge:
Bh – Now that is just too damn funny. Hysterical.
Both of them, bh. Dan Rather talking about Barcky selling watermelons and Rahm assaulting Massa in the shower. Popcorn, please.
NO TOGAAAAA !!!
Is there a trade protectionist analysis in the offing for this tax policy?
NO-GA.
NO-GA.
NO-GA.
Totally OT but I figure there are some big brains around here. Can anyone dissect this (from a comment directed at me on Facebook) and let me know what it means? Seems like it might be part of the new “Instant Leftist Boilerplate” but I’m not sure.
“And since we are ostensibly comparing corporations to government, why is a corporation inherently more efficient? To my mind, that remark is just libertarian, right-wing sludge promoting the false illusion that the Chicago School was correct, and markets are self-correcting, exhibiting the Efficient Market Hypothesis. The best investor of all time, George Soros, slays that idea, in both his treatise, “The Alchemy of Finance,” and backs it up most recently with a $2.7B windfall in 2007, only second to John Paulson. If I recall correctly, the gov’t had to step in to save the financial system 2x in the past decade. With Long Term Capital and most recently in 2008. How are banks efficient if they over-leverage themselves and have to beg for forgiveness from the gov’t, or else, go bankrupt, bankrupting capitalism as a result? That rescue, to my mind, was an incredibly efficient (quick, timely, thoughtful) way to stem irresponsible, inefficient corporate governance.
Government “competes” for many resources. It competes for human capital the same way that banks compete for the best traders and bankers. The incentive is obviously different, but the gov’t is competing just like the corporation for influence in the world. If the gov’t becomes monopolistic, and overbearing, then the people vote out the big government liberals and replace them with a laissez faire administration.
Semantically, you have to think beyond the conventional definitional application of the words, “efficiency” and “compete.” ;)”
I think it’ll get even more entertaining, JD, when the finger-pointing over Nov. starts in earnest.
Rush had soundbites of Massa telling the story.
I was yelling at the radio “Did you check for cloven hooves, or were you scared that might not be his finger, when you look down?”
Massa claimed he gave as good as he got though, so, you know, COCKFIGHT! Swords at half flass[id]…
That person is confused, scotch. Deeply. Similitudes can turn a phrase but they’re not reality. To refute them would be to educate the person. And, if you’re not paid to do it, is this person worth the pro bono work? I’m guessing not.
These are not the words of someone used to thinking vigorously about econ.
bh,
This is the same dude who lectured me on the superiority of Twitter over Facebook as media for the exchange of “Important Ideas” (his caps, not mine)
He kinda reminds me of that long-haired history grad student in the bar in “Goodwill Hunting”.
“…the gov’t had to step in…”
What is embedded there? Could be a petito principi?
sdferr is right that the question is begged but it also ignores the fact that the gov sets the reserve ratio, many mortgage rules, etc. They didn’t step in, they were already in.
Anyways, I’d be willing to bet $1,000 that if I asked some fairly simple questions to this guy, in person so he couldn’t google, that he knows shit about shit when it comes to the Chicago School or any of the work done in regards to EMH.
That “Gov ‘competes’…” paragraph is a thing of beauty. If the incentive is different, then by axiom, they’re not competing. Then, pivoting on a dime, the competition is for influence rather than human capital? Then, the gov might become “monopolistic”? (huh?, the gov by def is monopolistic, otherwise we fight a civil war).
You can’t refute his argument. He doesn’t make one.
because the corp. can’t print money
The civil war, in the original federal model, was supposed to be fought between the states as they competed for citizens.
The problem with a monopolistic AMERICAN federal leviathan is that it eventually provides equally bad service to everyone.
A corporation, from General Motors to the mighty US Government, that does not have competition will eventually die a self-inflicted death. The Federal Government is quite dead I can assure you, the problem we have is that we are too chicken to pull the plug.
As Pauli might have said: “It’s not even wrong.”
A useful short-circuit, scotch, might be to explain that Soros didn’t manipulate markets, he manipulated governments. When one man can pull billions out of Earth’s most mature governments, it’s generally a signal that those governments need to be edited.
What we have, is bullshit in the foundation; don’t be distracted by the smell wafting from the rafters.
Who the hell are the government competing against? The people the government is supposed to be looking out for, that’s who.
It’s like I heard one time about public unions, when the teachers union (for example) is negotiating for their contract, they are negotiating against the taxpayers. Otherwise known as citizens. There is a conflict of interest, the government shouldn’t be going after as much as it can for governments sake, it needs to run as efficiently as possible for the free citizens sake.
The problem is a mindset, becoming more pervasive, especially in the young we allow to be programed, that we are struggling against.
How does one go about reversing the Feds course of usurping more and more power from the individual states, causing state governments to do Washington’s bidding’s rather than the citizens of the state? I hope a novel way is found.
I think too many Americans see governments rightful place as a huge monolithic entity in it’s own right, that bears no resemblance to the American spirit of fame. That is, a nation of free men, interacting with the world with the barest of authority to keep the peace.
Now what we got is legislation for every conceivable scenario and a legion of ambulance chasing lawyers we call congressmen dreaming of the day a bill with their name on it will be in the news. And a swarm of cowards all to willing to give the congressman his bill, if only he will save us for ourselves.
I think our wires are crossed here, an example of why we shouldn’t use words that don’t really work in different contexts, Mr. W.
There is only one Fed Gov of the US. There is only one state gov in Illinois. That’s all I meant.
Exactly.
AFS – That dude wrote what appears to be English, is written in a form that resembles English, but its similarities end there.
That’s a WTF paragraph if I ever saw one. How do you “bankrupt capitalism?”
JD,
My thoughts, exactly.
Economics 101: The remake
Yeah, I always thought some concepts were in an unbankruptable set — along with “shiny” or “rough” — myself, Jim.
But, imagining he spoke like a sentient being, how did we bail out our capitalist system other than taxing other capitalists or selling debt on the future taxes on other capitalists?
Oh yeah, government money is free. That’s what makes it so damn competitive, I guess.
Thinking about it more, this guy is the living embodiment of Jeff’s post earlier about Civic Learning vs. College Degree.
The guy is elite New England boarding school then Georgetown educated but has no clue how the world works.
He didn’t take an econ class at Georgetown, I’d wager.
Government never acts like a business. Ever. Just look at the Post Office and schools. To save money, the Post Office wants to cut back on services and no longer deliver mail on Saturday. Schools want to go to a four-day school week.
Instead of saving money by streamlining the operation, they cut services. It’s how they work. A business that cut its services would soon find itself replaced by another business. It is not a big stretch to see that the exact same thing will happen with government run health insurance.
Anyone who cannot see the truth of this must have a strong sense of delusion or denial. Nothing else makes sense to me.
So Soros is the “Best Investor”? Much more like he set up some buys/sells to take advantage of a radical depression, then all he had to do was, ahem, “wait” for it to happen.
Soros is the epitome of the moneygrubbing heartless capitalist that Hollywood loves to portray, except that Soros takes down entire countries as a result of him putting a huge fat finger on the scales of whatever market he’s running this month.
Doesn’t take much to yell “Fire! Fire! Here’s a pail of water, only $30000 each! Before the children burn to death!”
Soros needs to get shorted himself.
Governments don’t compete with corporations, governments create and enforce the rules under which corporations compete with each other. They are the umpire not the players.
When governments compete it is with other governments, When that occurs we do not call it competition, we call it war. Force is what they are about and what they compete over.
This makes a good read, one among others anyway.
Governments don’t compete with anything over which they have power. That’s what having power means. AFS, your correspondent is dumber than a book of matches with baby lotion tips.
Ohferchrissakes! Soros causing a run on some nation’s currency doesn’t make him “the best investor” in anything. Like Squid said, the fucker manipulates governments.
That’s why I’ve been calling him “Goldfinger” for years. He is the ultimate James Bond villain. Except he’s all too real, and all of us are paying the price.
No, Mr American taxpayer/investor/businessman, I don’t expect you to talk. I expect you to die.
Wow. I assume both of those institutions had at least some graduates who survived.
“P.S. Your dog died.”
Very sorry to hear this, Jeff.
Would a currency and commodities trader/manipulator be considered a capitalist at all?
Jim,
I can confirm (having graduated with him) that some of us survived.
However, there are lots of loons. I was considering posting something another friend posted about how he felt it’s okay for him to finally root for US Olympic athletes now that “that sumbitch George Bush” is out office. Decided that one was too dumb to deal with and left it alone.
Since Soros, if nothing else, is very shrewd*, he certainly would not be risking his own money, but other people’s money, I’d say no.
;^)
*Buying the Democrat Party, at a time when we’re lurching towards a hyper-regulated, statist command economy, is about as shrewd as one could be.
Ack! I forgot to revert back from the sockpuppet.
Soros acquires money through the labor of others while posing as a man of the people.
This trait, living well without creating anything of real value, makes him a man of the modern left like Obama. What it does not do is make him a capitalist.
He’s really the bastard son of Che and an 18th century robber baron.
soros like baracky: international metrosexual of evil.
Money is power, and we all know that power is the world’s most potent aphrodisiac.
So why can’t George Soros score with the ladies?
Hey, Jeff, you catch this from Allah re: Rather, Obama and watermelons?:
Hmmm…
FAIR WEATHER INTENTIONALIST!
You don’t think he is fucking the hell out of this lady right now?
The prick slipped a roofie in my drink.
A lot of unsavory characters like Soros have taken a peek at Lady Liberty’s toga and thought her a woman of easy virtue. In the end, she still stands while they rot in some worm eaten casket. The mortality rate for men is 100%, and 0% for the ideal of liberty that America still represents.
Hey George, no one goes to visit Pol Pot’s grave.
I’ll bet Colorado legislators will back off on this new Amazon tax. The backlash, it stings!
There’s an even sillier tax (if you can believe it) in the works for visitors to our fair state, care of our Tennessee state (Democrat) legislators: a food tax on the free bagels and coffee one gets as a ‘complimentary breakfast’. Of course the hostels will challenge; the Tennessee Hospitality Association will complain loudly.
As soon as they hire a new, non-stupid CEO.
colorado: spawn of the devil
If it moves, tax it.
if it stops moving subsidize it
I assume everyone has seen this by now.
i like colorado and john wayne in el dorado
Hey, serr8d: Have they tried to sneak in an income tax in TN lately? I remember they tried to vote it in in the middle of the night some years ago. A talk radio station got wind and sicced the citizenry on the phone banks.
What? Are they trying to outdo Pat Quinn?
Scotch,
What this moron is missing is the fact that capitalism punishes it’s own (by failure), and that the only reason it isn’t working is that our “ruling class” has it’s dick so far up our asses, that they will never see daylight again…
Time to buy more Amazon stock. In Amazon v. Colorado, I’m betting on Amazon.
LD, that was basically the point I was trying to get across to him but gave up when I realized I had no hope.
Oddly enough, another PW regular knows this same individual and has been schooling him quite thoroughly and in ways I’m nowhere near smart enough to.
Upon receiving his educational beating, the guy who posted this defended it with “But I think the two of you took my thought experiment and squeezed it into a conventional model. I don’t want to try to continue explaining my notion of government as a competitor because neither of you can even imagine it.”
Once again, it’s written in English but it means NOTHING.
Scotch –
Yeah. It really sucks when we can no longer understand English.
Government is the party with the legal use of force, including courts and regulatory authority. Since when can a regular business COMPETE when the gov’t is judge, jury and regulatory?
Look at the fun Toyota is going through on behalf of Government Motors: It’s impossible to remove the literal conflict of interest here.
Your friend is literally asking about the benefits of Fascism. WE can certainly “imagine” that, what we can’t imagine is why some moron thinks that it would be an equal playing field.