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California Newest State Dumped by Amazon After Passing Affiliate Sales Tax

California is the newest state to pass a law taxing sales at companies like Amazon when those sales are generated by a local (in this case California-based) affiliate or associate. And, not unexpectedly, about five minutes after California Governor Jerry Brown signed the legislation, California becames the newest state to have their affiliates dumped by Amazon. As we’ve pondered before, is it arrogance or simple ignorance that is leading these state legislatures to pass laws that, instead of bringing in new taxes, are depriving their state economic engines of taxable spending fuel? Instead of bringing more income into the state, by chasing away the affiliate programs, they are depriving their own residents of income – income which would come back to the local economy.

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Amazon Adds Affiliate I.D.-Embedded “Twitter This” to Amazon Associates Toolbar

Amazon Associates rejoice (or not) – Amazon just added a “Share on Twitter” link to the Amazon affiliate toolbar that appears at the top of every Amazon product page, with the Amazon associate’s Amazon affiliate tag (i.d.) already embedded in the link, so that when you hit the “Share on Twitter” link, the Amazon link to whatever product it is goes out to all of your Twitter followers with your Amazon associate i.d. already embedded within the link. We’re just surprised that it took Amazon so long to jump on this bandwagon! (Ah, the downside of the inertia of an enormous, publicly held company.)

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Affiliates Getting Dumped from Coast-to-Coast as States Contemplate Internet Sales Tax Laws

With ever more states either passing or contemplating passing an Internet affiliate program sales tax, the two edges of that particular sword are being felt from coast-to-coast, as associates are being slashed from the lucrative affiliate programs of some of the largest Internet companies.