Update: Sign the online petition today
Unfortunately the affiliate tax, or “Amazon Tax” as it is not-so-affectionately known amongst internet marketers, has reared its head in a big way in North Carolina. House Bill 558 and Senate Bill 487 are both currently under discussion in the Finance Committees. Even worse, both seem to be on the fast track and are expected to have signatures within two weeks. It is undoubtedly time for North Carolina affiliates to join together in an organized front against these unfair bills. A similar effort has worked in Minnesota, Maryland, and California. If we band together in a professional and aggressive way in this state, we can see the same success here.
I have made repeated calls to Representative Luebke (the Chair of the House Finance Committee) at 919-733-7663 and have been unable to secure an official meeting. Similarly, with Senator Hoyle (the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee), a standing meeting time has not been secured. In both cases, the best advice given is to “catch them in the hallway”. Acting on that great advice, I will be at the General Assembly for North Carolina located in downtown Raleigh on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 8:00 am. I invite and IMPLORE each of you in NC to join me.
Tuesday is the day of choice as the House Finance Committee has a standing meeting every Tuesday at 8:30 am and the Senate Finance Committee has a standing meeting every Tuesday at 1:00. The address is North Carolina General Assembly, Legislative Building, 16 West Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27601. Please meet me there.
Additionally, I invite everyone in NC, and anywhere else for that matter, to meet with me in the mgecom, inc. corporate offices on Monday, June 22, 2009 to discuss strategy and actions for the approach to the Finance Committees. The meeting will be at 2:00 in the afternoon. Our address is 51 Kilmayne Drive, Suite 300, Cary, NC 27511. This meeting is equally important as the push on Tuesday will be since it is imperative that we have an organized effort behind us. Please make arrangements to attend, regardless of your location. There are plenty of overnight accommodations in the Triangle for those of you who will be traveling. This is an important event for all affiliate marketers in North Carolina.
Please RSVP to the Monday meeting at mgecom, the Tuesday meeting at the General Assembly, or to both by emailing me directly: matt.enders@mgecom.com.
To review, here is the plan:
Monday, June 22, 2009
2:00 pm meeting at mgecom offices to discuss strategy
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
8:00 am: meeting time at the North Carolina General Assembly
8:30 am: House Finance Committee standing weekly meeting
1:00 pm: Senate Finance Committee standing weekly meeting
The remainder of the times available on Tuesday will be spent in attempts to find, and secure meeting times with any bill sponsors, cosponsors, or finance committee members. I will continue to attempt to secure these meeting times in advance, however, we may have to act quickly on-site to locate the correct people.
Please attend! This is our industry and our state!