A while back I had received an e-mail from Amazon.Com stating that if Illinois continued with something they were proposing Amazon would be forced to cancel the affiliate program for Amazon Affiliates in IL.
Sure enough as expected Illinois did what it always does, raise taxes and kill jobs.
I'm not a tax expert nor am I an expert on this issue but from my understanding this is the jist of the situation. Illinois decided that Amazon having affiliates in the state of Illinois constituted Amazon having a brick and mortar store in Illinois and therefore must pay sales tax in Illinois
This is a power grab and totally unconstitutional as there was a Supreme Court Case involving Quill several years back where it was determined mail order catalogues don't have to pay sales tax in states they do business with/in unless they have a physical presence there.
Common sense would extend this to websites as well however Pat Quinn and the state of Illinois made this unconstitutional move and moved forward with this.
It's easier for Amazon to just cancel the affiliate program than to start paying sales tax in Illinois which they shoudln't have to do and on top of that I imagine it would cost them a lot of money re-programming the website and their system to charge sales tax in certain states and not others.
Now if this isn't stupid enough here's the kicker. Prior to this happening Illinois didn't collect service tax on goods bought from Amazon, however they did collect income tax from Amazon Affiliates who made money through the program.
After this move by Pat Quinn Illinois still will not collect sales tax on good sold on Amazon and since the Affiliate Program has been cancelled Illinois will also no longer be collecting income tax on Amazon Affiliates since the program no longer exists.
Pat Quinn accomplished nothing with this move. Illinois still get no sales tax. They lose the income tax of Amazon Affiliates and they killed a ton of jobs.
This has happenned in several states and will continue to happen if people don't stand up and put a stop to unconstitutional, bully, corrupt governments. PLEASE contact Pat Quinn and let him know what you think about this. His contact info is below...
Springfield
Office of the Governor207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
Phone: 217-782-0244
Chicago
Office of the GovernorJames R. Thompson Center
100 W. Randolph, 16-100
Chicago, IL 60601
Here's also some interesting articles on the subject...
Illinois Governor Puts Illinois Amazon Affiliates Out of Business
Illinois Governor Signs Amazon Internet Sales Tax Law
Illinois Governor Puts Illinois Amazon Affiliates Out of Business
What are your thoughts? We'd love to hear what you think about this. Please leave a comment below
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