I just received an email from the Amazon affiliate program that let me know of a bill in NC that is close to passing. If this bill passes Amazon will sever its relationship with all of its North Carolina residents because of the tax on affiliate marketing in the state. This unconstitutional tax will not only hurt NC, it will force its residents out of state.
I don’t rely heavily on Amazon for my income, but this is a trend that other affiliate programs will follow as well. New York tried this tax, and what happened? People moved to CT to continue their affiliate marketing businesses. Politicians need to realize that this will not HELP their budget. If this tax will stop Amazon from working with affiliates in the state, then they will just move. It’s like taking away their jobs. Many of these politicians probably don’t even realize what affiliate marketing is, and that’s what makes this bill so dangerous.
This bill in NC is part of a larger plan to raise taxes to bring in revenue. But since when does taxing people to death actually help them?
This is a personal issue for me because I am a resident of North Carolina. I am trying to fight this bill from passing, as they are trying to ram it through as soon as possible. I encourage any and all of you living in NC to write your congressmen and representatives. If you don’t stand up now, you may not have a chance to.
You can email your state rep or congressman by going to this website: http://www.ncleg.net/GIS/RandR07/Representation.html#byZIP.
You can just enter your zip code to get the email addresses of the people to contact. Please inform them of this terrible decision and why it will be so devastating to affiliate marketers across the state and to the state itself. It’s up to us now.
This is really frustrating since I’ve been a SEO contractor for 3 years now and just in the past 3 weeks have decided to learn more about affiliate marketing and switch over (because client work gets old
). And now NC has to pass stupid legislation (I live in Raleigh, NC). I love Raleigh and didn’t plan on moving, but now I don’t know what to do, pursue further client work or just try to do as much as possible in the next 5-6 months that I have as a peaceful aff marketer in NC.
Btw, where in NC are you Johnathan?
I love design of your blog. Is it hand made?
No im not much of a designer. It is actualy a one theme wordpress design.
I am located in Shelby, NC. Are you in NC bobby?
Bobby, I would diversify as much as possible. You can make money with affiliate marketing aswell as other things like ads like Google Adsense, Chitika and text links. Don’t get too discouraged. I am still hoping we can beat this ridiculous internet tax bill and send those politicians packing. Keep working on your sites and don’t hold back.
Amazon has officially made the move and closed off affiliates in NC. I too reside in North Carolina. Just got an email today saying that my account has been automatically closed due to the new tax legislation. I do believe bloggers and marketers of NC should band together and form a petition against this! I didn’t rely fully on Amazon, but it is a nice chunk of change when I do get paid. Anyone with me on this?
Brada7x’s last blog post..Two More GPT’s – FusionCash and The Cash Grab
I completely agree Brada7x. I am wanting to fight against this thing too. Not only will it kill my business but it will hurt the state even more too. You can’t tax yourself out of a recession too well. I think a lot of people are with you, and we DO need to band together. We just need a big group of people to start a petition.
I’m in Raleigh, well I decided that I’ll just create a virtual office/po box in another state and have affiliate networks use that address should other affiliate networks/companies decide to follow amazon’s lead.
On fo the problems I’ve seen pointed out about incorporating in another state is that you are still considered a resident of NC and you are the principle operator in the business. With those being true the argument could be made that tax evasion is going on and suit brought not only by the state, but by the affiliate network against you for fraud.
Now, if there’s a credible office space in another state and you’re near the state line (as we are in the Western part of the state…) it does make me wonder about renting an office over the line, and incorporating, but I think the key legal question might be what constitutes “doing business” in the state. It seems silly to have to drive over the state line every time you want to update a website so you can claim that you never were involved in business activities within the borders of the state of North Carolina.
Affiliate networks too might be a bit reluctant to deal with a sudden rush of change of address notices from affiliates that used to be in the state they just cut off.
I don’t know – I am not a lawyer of course, but I would like to see a more detailed discussion of those legal points.
Avery’s last blog post..North Carolina Tax Plan Strangling Some Small Businesses
The answer, of course, is and has always been: Put more Republicans in the NC House and Senate.
This is simply another win for the liberal establishment in Raleigh that’s run our state into the ground.
John, I can’t agree with you more. The liberalism in the state of NC is what is causing all of these new tax laws and regulations that are hurting out state more than helping it. Living so close to SC as it is, I am very close to moving down there to get away from this junk.
Are there any updates on this issue? I am a NC resident and wanted to start a site to do affiliate marketing but my applications are getting denied due to my residency. Did any of you figure out a solution?
As far as I know, Claire, the nexus law is still in effect and there are no signs of it being reversed any time soon. Not until we can both remove the people in office now and also inform the legislature about affiliate marketing and how this law is bad for everyone. But don’t let this stop you from making money with affiliate marketing. There are still many companies you can promote and many great CPA websites you can join with great money making possabilities.