Yes. Of course. Because Amazon won’t pull their affiliate program out of Maryland – thus making the entire exercise moot – the moment that it passes. Just like they didn’t do it in North Carolina or Rhode Island, and just like they aren’t still thinking about doing it in New York, depending on how the court cases go.
And before I hear about how this won’t have any effect on individual affiliates, so Amazon.com is being absurd:
The bill would require a Web retailer like Amazon.com to charge sales tax on orders to Maryland customers if the retailer gets more than $10,000 in sales a year from affiliate marketers — sites run by businesses or individuals in the state that have contracts to send sales traffic to large retailers.
Ten grand in sales, not profit. That’s small. How small? Let me put it this way: MoeLane.com’s referrals last year would have required Amazon to collect sales tax. Not that I saw ten grand in revenue, or even a tenth of that (and the amount that I did see was duly taxed by the State of Maryland, even though as far as I can tell the State of Maryland didn’t do anything specific to earn its cut). And if these Senatorial idiots Richard S. Madaleno and Ulysses Currie (both Democrats, of course) have their way, I – and the State of Maryland – won’t see a tenth of that tenth, because my Amazon Associates account will be terminated before the ink’s dry on the signature of their shiny new law.
And then nobody gets any money.
My only comfort is that I didn’t actually vote for any of these people. Being a Republican, and everything.
Moe Lane
PS: Full disclosure, in case it isn’t obvious: I am an affiliate of Amazon.com
As usual, “If it moves, tax it!”
If the “highly-educated representatives” apply sales taxes to Amazon.com (or any internet business), then they will receive nothing. This will kill the very thing they are attempting to exploit. They forget that “shipping” is included in the cost of an item purchased on the internet, which equates very much to a sales tax and provides many jobs for such companies as UPS, Fed-Ex. Taxing internet sales will force prices for goods up to a point that it will be less expensive to purchase said good locally, and thereby reduce traffic for shipping companies, resulting in less profit, more lay-offs.
But, these are the same people who believe that making Americans get up an hour earlier (in the dark) saves energy!
Better stop! I’m about to write my own diary!
Colorado did the same thing. Lame duck Gov. Bill Ritter responds, how dare they not like their new taxes.
yes, they’re also considering a tax on plastic bags so they won’t be outdone by DC’s bag tax.
http://www.explorebaltimorecounty.com/news/105061/bill-would-make-customers-pay-using-plastic-bags/