MGECOM

Affiliate Management at its Finest

The NC Affiliate Tax Fight

Jun 22 2009 by Matt Enders

Tomorrow the mgecom team, along with affiliates from around the state and other representatives from our industry will be spending the day at the General Assembly in Raleigh in an effort to show our elected representatives the egregious errors in SB202 regarding digital sales tax, nexus, and what is known as the “Amazon Tax” or “Affiliate Tax”.   We need your support in order to win the fight.  As such, here are the steps we need you to take.  If you live in North Carolina, the affiliate marketing industry in this state is now depending on you!

The Official Fight

  1. Come with us to the General Assembly tomorrow in downtown Raleigh.  We currently have over 20 CONFIRMED meetings with State Senators and Representatives from this state.  We are meeting with committee leaders, voting members, Republicans, Democrats, and everyone else who has the power to influence this law.  We are meeting at 8:00 am in front of the GA building.  The address is:16 West Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27601
  2. If you are an affiliate, we need your testimonial.  Please fill out the Contact Us form and share with us how the tax law changes will affect YOUR daily life.  Will you have to move out of the state?  Will you not be able to pay for prescriptions?  Will you lose discretionary income that you otherwise would have spent in the local NC economy?  We need to hear your story.
  3. Learn our approach.  This is what we will be telling lawmakers TOMORROW:
    • We understand that North Carolina is in a $4Billion+ budget deficit, and we appreciate that you need to make that up.  However, the language regarding internet sales tax in SB202 WILL force online retailers to do everything in their power to avoid meeting the definition of “nexus” which NC has created.
    • When similar legislation was passed in New York last year, a large number of online retailers DID remove affiliates from their program, as evidenced here: http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=105869
    • Because of the above two facts, the anticipated $13.1Million in new tax revenue you are expecting will not be there.  In fact, you will lose the existing tax revenue you are currently collecting from individuals and small businesses across the state who will be forced out of business, or forced to move.
    • The tax law will create lost jobs.  As affiliate advertisers are removed from their programs, they will suffer huge income losses.  Unemployment in NC is already over 11%.  This tax law change will INCREASE the amount of people who are suddenly jobless in NC.
    • We must create a sense of personification in the eyes of the legislators.  They must understand that it is not the big corporations who are being hurt, but the individuals and residents of North Carolina.  This is why we need your stories, as mentioned above, via our Contact Us form.
    • Finally, North Carolina wishes to be viewed as a technology-friendly state.  This type of legislation is precisely what will force technology-savvy affiliates and advertisers out of our state.

Again, we need your help.  Please post a link to this blog post on your Twitter account.  You can use this shortened URL:  http://bit.ly/15g0Hk  Email your friends, family and colleagues.  The more exposure we have, the better.  Finally, sign our petition which can be found here: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/ncaffiliatetax/.

Thank you to everyone who attended the on-site meeting in our offices today.  Through working together, we have a chance to defeat the tax law which could put so many out of business.