If this comes off as a complete rant, so be it. I’m upset. I’m angry. Mostly, just when you thought elected public officials couldn’t get any worse, they do this. And I bet you if you look at their resumes, they were responsible for the construction of this child playground slide.
North Carolina Lawmakers Creation
What am I upset about? Lawmakers in North Carolina are following the lead of those in New York and Rhode Island by instituting an affiliate tax or otherwise known as the “Amazon Tax”. What is it? Basically, if you are an affiliate, the merchant has to collect sales tax on the sale and submit it to the state where you are a resident. Mind you, not where the purchaser of the product lives, but you, as the affiliate. If that sounds stupid and idiotic, you’d be right.
Now, if you were the merchant, what would you do? Would you collect the sales taxes and cause extra burdens to be on your company? I wouldn’t either. The easier solution? Terminate the relationship with every affiliate in those states. And now, it is happening in my home state of North Carolina. I have already had seven affiliate relationships terminated which account for over 40% of our revenues. That’s significant – especially in this economy.
I know I will find a solution, even if it means moving my company out of this state. But while finding a solution for my business is my chief concern, I am also concerned that states tend to be copycats and this can soon spread to all states. If you’re an affiliate, this can literally crush your business overnight.
The bill goes before the governor on July 15th. The best way to stop this spread of “idiot politics” is to stop it from being passed in North Carolina. If it fails, other states may drop interest in the tax.
What can you do?
Two things:
1) Sign this online petition. At the time of this writing there were 832 signers. We need a lot more to get their attention.
2) Even if you are NOT a resident of North Carolina, you can fill out this form to be delivered to the governor’s office. On the drop down option for the Subject, choose Taxes & Revenue. Be direct, to the point, but most of all professional.
Forward this post to as many people as you can. I didn’t take this to seriously last month when it was discussed, but now I face reality by having my income severely reduced. Take a few minutes of your day to support this to avoid going through what I am right now.
The main reason I started the SEO Revolution was out of frustration. Frustration at all of the lies and misconceptions that are posted in forums, given as advice in teleconferences, and even taught in live workshops. "So why didn't all of this work?" " Why wasn't my site successful?" " Why am I still stuck in a rut?" 
This is really bad news. What went wrong there to make such stupid decisions that actually hurt the economy instead of supporting it.
Gunter
Hey Gunter,
It is based on “short sightedness”. A few months ago New York lawmakers strong armed Amazon to pay the tax, which Amazon did. However, other states, like Rhode Island followed New York’s lead, and Amazon saw what was coming next, so they just terminated the relationships. The same is happening with North Carolina, and merchants are terminating the relationships BEFORE the law is signed. I guess they are looking to make a statement too.
It is a complete mess and what lawmakers don’t understand is, if there is no revenue to tax, there is no tax revenue. 7% of zero is still zero. And the fallout from additional unemployment, businesses leaving the state, and loss of disposable income spent within the state, etc.
Sales tax and income tax are a joke. You tax what I earn and tax what I spend. Chose one or the other, but not both.
I’ll stop now before I get any more worked up…
How does this affect drop-shippers Jerry? Same issue?
I’m not from this great country of yours, but doesn’t it take like 5 minutes to open corporate a new Delware company?
Jerry,
Sorry to hear this, but as you said, you will get through this because you always do.
I am happyu to sign the petition and I will forward it through my work as well.
They are threatening the same thing in California. We are already in big trouble here, so what do they do…discourage businesses from making money or encourage them to leave.
It’s scary that the people in charge just react by taxing anything they see, instead of thinking things through long term.
Hey Jerry,
This really does suck and is just one more thing that infuriates me about our present government (both sides of the fence). We not only have to send a strong message now (I signed the petitions I could) but next election cycle they all need to go imo! Not only are they spending Billions to “stimulate” the economy by giving our hard earned money to people and projects that have no right to it, now they want to tax us again to pay the tab, only it will backfire on them because exactly as you stated above, 7% of zero is well a bankrupt country.
I could go on but let me just say, we could sure use a few more good men in Idaho if you are looking to move!
Keep pressing on, you are a problem solver so you will find a way around this but it just makes my blood boil. Ok, now I am starting to rant so will quit. I am just fed up with what our politicians are doing to this once great nation.
Barney
These idiot lawmakers don’t realize how portable internet business are and they’re just driving people out of the state/country. It might be a long time before we have enough politicians in office that understand how things work and can prevent stupid stuff like this.
If you’ve been wondering why “tea parties” have been popping up all over the country, you begin to see why. For the first time in years, I had an inspector come into my office to check that I had my Occupational License posted, if you can believe that. It was really a ruse to make sure we’re up-to-date and paying our license fees, so expect to see an upward trend in tax collection, especially in tax deficient states. Look what’s happening in California. Look at how many people have fled NY due to onerous local taxws. I expect the trend will continue as we are responsible for our current elected officials, and they all want mo money.
You’re on the right track, get petitions into their offices that express the will of their constituency. AND protect yourselves with a Recession Proof Business.
Note: It doesn’t matter where you are incorporated. I am incorporated OUTSIDE of North Carolina. But because I have a business office in North Carolina, the merchant must collect sales tax on my affiliate sales.
You’re right Barney, this was once a great nation. It’s not looking that way anymore.
Yet another reason I love living in Texas. And now for my conservative rant…
I am sure you guys also see this is double taxation. This was the reason the 13 colonies declared their independence from Britain. I am all for helping out those in need which is usually a liberal politician’s stance. However, the government isn’t really an entity with a soul & spirit and the government can’t create money out of air. The blue states have great social programs to help the less fortunate, but it is literally breaking them financially. California is the first to feel the birth pains with their IOU tax returns. I read in Money magazine several months ago that 50% of millionaires have left Manhattan because of their insane tax system. Bottom line is that if you live in Manhattan that the government (city+state+national) take a grand total of approx 70% of a million dollar a year wage earners income. It really sucks that the only option for business owners & fortunate, wealthy individuals is to leave their home state. I can’t imagine how hard that would be on a family. My wife and I have discussed what steps we would take should Texas fall to liberal ideology. It wouldn’t be easy but providing financial security and better quality of life for my family would be more important to me than giving 60-70% of my earnings to a government to squander.
Oh, and btw, my wife and her immediate family lean to the liberal side. Of course my opinion is they only see the benefits of having a liberal government. Provides great conversation at the dinner table on holidays.
I will definitely sign the petition Jerry.
Hiv_Neg_Greg
ps. Loving your book “Google: Best Practices Guide”. It is my outline for taking my businesses to the next step.
Maybe there are some good reasons to incorporate offshore after all? Here in PA they have what is called a USE tax – if you have any type of business and purchase a good or service from a vendor outside the commonwealth that is subject to sales tax within the commonwealth, you, the buyer, are responsible for submitting the USE tax every six months.
Insanity created by lawyers who are now politicians all of whom have never created or earned a living from a real business or job, thus how can we expect them to understand the insanity they foment.
Politicians are idiots – what else is new? Why do you think they are politicians? They are every bit as greedy and power-hungry (and probably moreso) as those that they vilify in the private sector. Welcome to the Age of Obama – it’ll only get worse. And really, do you think there are enough internet marketers to get the attention of these dopey pols? Probably not, but hopefully a stand can be made in NC.
I got whacked as well. 2 of my programs so far have already sent “intimidate termination” notices of my programs.
In addition to the lost revenue, I now have untold hours worth of work to modify all the pages and links that carry these products.
Oh the wisdom of lawmakers. I don’t doubt that they believe that if the rich were taxed at 50%, doubling the tax to 100% would double their revenue. It’s amazing what kind of revenue you can drum up with 100 politicians and an excel spreadsheet.
These guys should take a look at the effect of the millionaires tax in MD or the high corp taxes in CA. They THINK it’s pay or play. They forget the 3rd option, move out of the state.
Sadly though, it looks like the state of California would end up getting bailed out by the federal gov’t…making one state’s budget crisis, all of our problem.
The thing is, like it or not, WE are ALSO part of the problem as well. For YEARS we’ve let politicians run rampant over the free market and even our rights – YES by BOTH PARTIES!
This Amazon Tax is just yet another one of things that these IDIOTS keep instituting … but this is not NEW! We the American people kept voting in the same bozos that “brought home the bacon” and if what they did didn’t affect us, we didn’t care. BELIEVE ME, I was one of those! But it has gotten out of hand!
This whole “tax the rich”, and “tax those big even companies” is SO against what this country was founded on. Remember what one of our founding fathers said: ” The power to tax is the power to destroy”.
We in the US do need a “peaceful revolution” where we literally “throw the bums out” and find people that not only will “support, protect and defend our Constitution” … but they should ALSO K-N-O-W it!
Folks – even if you love your local congressman, your senator, your president or ANY elected official – you MUST vote them out for new blood (and do the same to them) Entrenched power in any elected office is dangerous, and we need to remind them (by ousting them) that we STILL in charge – (for now)
What are the big boy’s doing about it? It seems to me the loss in revenue to an affiliate network like CJ and other top networks are destined to loose millions from advertisers dropping affiliates.
Ditto everything Greg from Texas said. What is so depressing is that liberals don’t see the whole picture and just think that “someone else” is going to pay for these benefits. By the time they wake up and realize that the “someone else” is eventually going to be themselves and their kids, it will be too late.
Sorry to hear about this Jerry. I’ll sign your petition. The country is going crazy right now. Whoever voted for “Change” is getting it right now. Our country is being taken over by “takers” instead of “builders” of income. Every one of these big companies (Amazon,Google,Yahoo etc) roll over to politics instead of standing firm. Saying no to countries like China and states like New York takes guts, something they don’t have. Wait till cap and trade and the health program gets rammed down our throats.
Thanks for sharing the news, Jerry.
This is probably the thin edge of a very big wedge, as governments begin to tax their way out of massive debt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USDebt.png
Neil.
We should send this to ALL business people not just affiliate or internet marketers. What business is not online today and this is just gearing up to put some tax on all internet transactions. Need to stop and push this back now! And also forward to all blogs we go to. a few high traffic political blogs can help spread this even more.
Jerry,
Sounds like Nevada is going to get a HUGE influx of new corporations!
Their model is what other states should follow, not this stupid attempt to increase tax revenue!
Why can’t they see that what they are doing is penny-wise and pound-foolish? It will just drive businesses like yours out of the state, thus significantly decreasing tax revenue in the long run!
I’m glad the “Governator,” in California, is doing the right thing!
Thanks for your efforts!
Wil
When you were voting for change what did you expect? Did anyone study our elected officials background before voting or was the kool-aid that intoxicating?
Wouldn’t this lead to double taxation?
For example, if a merchant has a presence in California (headquarters, storefront, shipping warehouse, etc) and the customer is also in California, the merchant is already required to pay California sales tax on the purchase. Now, if the affiliate that referred the sale is in North Carolina, that state would also require sales tax be paid to them… so TWO states would be collecting sales tax on the same transaction.
This is crazy. Do they not see right now that the American people are really getting annoyed with the government taking control of everything we have and hold sacred. They’ve got their hands in too many of our money pots. It’s just a matter of time and things are going to get chaotic – and I’m a fairly rationale person – but they’re going to far with bailouts, socialism, etc.
Here’s my post after signing:
I support this petition. Ridiculous – more taxes. The government is starting to take too much control in every aspect of our lives – this is just another example. Lawmakers used to be citizens too – how easily they forget and become power mongers.
Incorporating in Nevada won’t necessarily help. If your office is still in one of these states, you’ll still be affected.
Let’s all move to Costa Rica!
Hi Jerry,
This is infuriating but I’m not surprised. Lawmakers are almost almost clueless and don’t live in the real world.
As a super affiliate myself, it’s concerning. And for all affiliates, they should be outraged from not only a financial standpoint but a moral and legal one as well.
This has happened/affected a close friend of mine and another super affiliate who got kicked out of some programs he was promoting at CJ.com because he lives in NY.
I am going to blog about your post at my blog and draw attention to this issue.
I hope you recover from this. You are an innocent productive member of society who once again got steamrolled by stupid government policies.
Regards,
Dan Ho
Hey guys, I am saddened by this news but not at all surprised. The US is moving in a direction of a police state where they will take away all of your rights and your assets. This is not a democrat or republican thing either, it’s from the power structure behind these Political toads whether it be Obama OR McCain.
I realize this is an extreme view, but every time I go back to the US (I live in Europe, and WILL NOT go back to the US ever) for a vacation I am amazed at how they continue to take away more of your freedoms (e.g. $375 tickets if you go 46 MPH in a 45 zone, and if you happen to do it the next day, without knowing you got a ticket the day before, it will be $1000. Another violation and they impound your vehicle. And people don’t see the writing on the wall of how they’re taking away their freedoms?).
What pisses me off the most is my country has been stolen from me by the Federal Reserve (a private corporation mind you) and know one either cares, or knows, etc. Sad, sad days in America. And it’s NOT going to get any better unless the FED is removed and that will require a HUGE revolt that I don’t see Americans capable of making at this stage, since most have their head in the sand when it comes to what is really going on.
@JayCunningham: You said “Every one of these big companies (Amazon,Google,Yahoo etc) roll over to politics instead of standing firm”.
It’s not the job of “big companies” to stand firm and stand up. Their job is to make money and profits for their business, their investors, their shareholders and their employees – NOT necessarily directly deal with political policy (that is unless you are GE and have close ties with the administration and will do VERY well with custom made legislation)
It’s not Google’s, Amazon’s or ANY other company’s requirement to do ANYTHING that hurts their business – and the same goes for us. And if it hurts their business to NOT have affiliates in a state that is doing that “stupid tax”, then they have to do what’s best for the company. AS ANY OF US WHO OWN COMPANIES OR HAVE EMPLOYEES WILL ATTEST! I know that this may sound like I’m somehow supporting what happened – I DON’T! I’m just looking at what business is all about!
The LEGISLATURE are the ones that push this crap through and because they have the POWER TO TAX they have virtually unlimited funds to outspend any efforts of companies and citizens who try to STOP stuff like this from going through!
To be blunt, Amazon (and other companies) are also victims of this crap – not just we affiliates!
SO be sure you direct your feelings to where the REAL problem is – not so much Amazon – but to the IDIOT LEGISLATORS that have allegedly good intentions (NOT) that end up hurting the very people that they are intending to “help”. VOTE THEM ALL OUT ASAP!
Jerry,
Move your company to a different state that isn’t part of the “lets try what New York is doing” mentallity, or out of the country to the Camen. Eitherway, the states will lose and you can still be an affiliate and laugh all the way to the bank.
&JJ …
Well … the FED is still in power my friend! The Senate voted down S604 (the Senate version of the House HR1207 “Audit The Fed” Bills!
The point is (yet again) POLITICAL POWER is still VERY much in charge from the LOCAL to the NATIONAL level. As I said, entrenched political positions breed nothing but private interests that feed off the public.
Again I say – VOTE EVERY INCUMBENT OUT and GET INVOLVED and LEARN YOUR HISTORY or you are doomed to repeat it!
Jerry, I live an hour East of you.
Last week I sent Governor Perdue a letter explaining that I would be looking for a new residence while vacationing next week in Florida. That, while I didn’t do that much with Amazon, if all the other networks dumped me too I’d be broke. That it was better for me to find a safe harbor now before the full storm hit. And I explained to her how performance based advertising works.
But it looks like the storm is hitting even faster than I expected.
Would you mind telling me what other affiliate programs dropped you? Or, if that’s too much information, were they affiliate networks or private programs? I’m trying to get a feel on how wide spread this problem is growing. (email me if you need to)
How come you don’t setup offshores, and run your business else where, so your not dealing with taxes.
Then take a salary from your external company, and just pay minimal taxes on the money coming back in.
There are many top CPA advertisters/Affiliate owners running this style. Works extremely well.
I guess there going to blame bush on this too
I think there is a way around this Jerry, although, you’re right, we need to stop it right there in NC as the domino effect can be substantial.
I’m thinking you have a “foreign corporation”, i.e., one incorporated outside your state and you’ve registered it with your state as a foreign corporation, and thus you’re doing business in NC even though your corp is incorporated in antoher state.
If I’m right…why are you registered as a foreign corp? Typically the only reason a corp does this is because the state won’t let the corp sue on transactions that occur in that state if they don’t register. Is it because you have employees in your state? You might consider forming 2 corporations – 1 in another low tax state (like Texas – New and Delaware corps don’t have the advantages they used to), and one in NC. The NC corp is a vendor for the foreign corp and bills them for services. The NC corp doesn’t actually do ANY affiliate business, they just support a corp (your foriegn corp) that does in another state.
Anyway, I’m not an attorney, so take my advice for what it’s worth – my 5 cents.
As the tax looters progress, it’s no longer “creeping Socialism”, it’s now “running Socialism”, and it affects us all, not just internet marketers.
I’m in, I’ll sign the petition, and do whatever else I can.
It seems we are going to need some mass Civil Disobedience as it applies to our loony-bin legislators. So lets fight back.
Let’s encourage every Employee to go to their Employer and raise their deductions to 10 or 12, to help stop feeding the brainless beasties.
If you own real property, let’s petition to have our tax assessmenst lowered tom reflect the equity meltdown..
Let’s use cash and barter wherever possible.
Most of all, let’s VOTE THESE JERKS OUT.
Let’s “Just say No”…to the looters. Legally.
No Dan, they aren’t asking the referring affiliates to collect sales tax – only that online retailers collect sales tax in states where they have affiliates.
Since Amazon does not have an office or physical presence in North Carolina, they have not had to collect sales tax on sales made to North Carolina residents.
The new law states that “affiliates” represent a physical location, forcing Amazon and other major retailers to collect sales tax from buyers in states where they have affiliates.
This is actually a workaround to a tax collection the states have been unable to enforce to date, which is that the buyers are supposed to report and pay tax on products purchased from out of state vendors. Since they cant easily enforce that, they are looking to the sellers to do the bookkeeping for them.
The dispute is whether affiliates represent a “physical presence” in each state. This is what Amazon is fighting.
There are other things up in the air at the moment as well, including the proposal nicknamed the “iTunes Tax” which is a 4% tax on digital downloads. They are also targeting the top dogs (like iTunes, Rhapsody, etc) but could ultimately have a trickle down effect on info-product publishers, membership sites and other forms of “virtual products”.
Jerry – I look forward to hearing any solutions you come up with. I have other friends who are going through the same thing in Rhode Island and NC.
Best,
Lynn Terry -TN
NH has no state income tax…..
Sorry to hear abut this Jerry. The same thing happened to me here in NY. NY has become an utter hellhole. Over the past month it has literally been a clown show in Albany. I would have moved away long ago but all my family is here. But even family is not enough anymore – they are now taxing everything they can think of. I’m headed south this year and am bringing my business with me.
An example of this is a new MTA tax that went into effect this year. For years I had to pay NYC income taxes even though I didn’t live in the city – a so called commuter tax – but I still had to pay my local taxes as well. Here on LI taxes on a modest house can easily 10K or more a year. So I stopped working in the city but now I notice there is an MTA tax on my cell bill. The MTA runs the buses and subways in NYC. I am now also paying an MTA tax starting this year on all my income. I have absolutely nothing to do with the city or the MTA but they keep making up new taxes.
Has anybody else wondered why all the states with the highest taxes like NY, Cali, NJ and Connecticut (blue states) also have the biggest deficits. They keep raising taxes but the deficits keep going up. It’s not that the politicians don’t understand, it’s that they don’t care. why should they? They never pay for their actions – we the taxpayers and business owners do. We are nothing but peasants in their eyes.
We now have a man in charge of the IRS who didn’t pay his taxes but we’ll be put in jail if we don’t. The rest of the administration is also filled with tax cheats who to turn the entire country bankrupt blue state. It’s getting scary.
Sorry for the long rant, I’m just really, really, really mad.
Where I live lawmakers are just as ridiculous. To make matters worse, they will increase their salary and expense account, and they will hoist it on the backs of those who put them in place as if they forgot how they got there.
What do you call a lawyer who isn’t skilled or popular enough to get a sufficient number of clients to make a living?
A politician.
Read something about Amazon terminating its affiliate program with Hawaii.
Hawaii affiliates were reinstated last week
I guess I have to become nervous. I do not live in the USA but have a govt that follows to the letter whatever you (USA)do. We already have 69 cents in the dollar tax on higher incomes if you are not suitably structured.
I guess they do not like the even playing field that the internet has created and want their slice of the pie to feather even more fat cat political lifestyles.
It has never been do as I do , rather do as I say.
Don’t like to be negative but have been wondering for a while what the govts will do to keep reign over their slaves. The internet is making too many of us independent and that will never do.
When will they realize 0% of nothing is nothing. I guess we will all have to shift offshore. I can see a rising up of the tax havens again.
Oh Panama , you are looking good !
Can someone explain this to me like I’m a 3 year old because this sounds really ugly.
“The new law states that “affiliates” represent a physical location, forcing Amazon and other major retailers to collect sales tax from buyers in states where they have affiliates.”
1. Amazon (WA) has an affiliate in Indiana.
2. The buyer lives in Washington.
3. The buyer must pay sales tax for Indiana because the affiliate lives there?!
Maybe I’m missing the point here but isn’t that penalizing the buyer? If that’s the case, then
where is the incentive to do business anywhere except
outside the country.
Georjina,
Let’s use New York as the example. Amazon is not located in NY, therefore prior to the law passed last year they did not have to collect sales tax from NY residents when NY residents purchased products from Amazon.com.
NY residents are supposed to report products purchased from out-of-state vendors and pay appropriate sales & use tax on those purchases. But they either don’t know this, or simply don’t do it. In other words, the state is having a hard time enforcing it.
Since Amazon.com has affiliates in the state of New York, the state is now considering that “a physical presence” – forcing Amazon.com to collect sales tax from NY residents when they make a purchase on the site. Basically collecting the sales tax on purchases the state has been unable to collect themselves.
The internet has never been a “tax free zone”. There is a Dell facility here in TN, and so when I purchase products from Dell.com, I pay state sales tax on that purchase (because I am located in TN).
Offline merchants – your local bookstore, for example – also must collect state sales tax on sales made to buyers within their state. They do not have to collect state sales tax on purchases made by buyers outside their state. So if a TN business ships product to CA, they do not collect state sales tax on that sale. But if they ship product to someone in TN, they do.
Obviously they will have to revise this for offline merchants if they intend to enforce it with online merchants. Agreed? Ironically, there were local merchants in NC pushing for this new law affecting online retailers – obviously ignorant of the actual details.
The real question up for debate is:
Do affiliates represent a physical presence in each state?
It’s not like an affiliate is actually a sales rep for the merchant – selling product locally. In fact, as an affiliate, I may never sell a product to someone IN the state of TN.
I haven’t heard ANY talk of holding local merchants to the same standards regarding out-of-state sales. But of course who cares – since that would just send local dollars to other states, right?
My biggest issue with this is that it is done right, handled fairly and ethically, and that what ultimately happens is LEGAL. That is going to require proactive involvement from every side…
Did you read the part in the pdf on page 270 and 271? It looks like they consider digital products tangible goods too. (read pdf page 270 and 271) Meaning, any digital access type product will be required to pay sales tax for NC residents.
This seems to me that NC residents should be having a fit about this too. Basically they want to tax any internet purchase an NC resident makes.
This is why we need the FairTax.
Taxation has gone to absurd levels, if our founding fathers were alive today they would be livid at what this country has turned into.
Sign the petition and go to your Tea Parties lets stop this nonsense!
I signed your petition Jerry and stated in it:
“I support this petition as a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that said retailers must have a physical presence within a state for that state to require sales tax collection. The decision says that Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce implicitly denies such power to the states. It also held that only Congress, through legislation, could delegate broader powers to the states.”
Now my rant.
If you voted to give the Democrats the White House and a super majority in the House and Senate and you’re whining about the onslaught of new taxation and loss of personal freedom then I’m glad you’re now getting the reality check you so deserve. Unfortunately the rest of us also have to suffer the consequences of your, ACORNS, illegals, dead people & pets voting actions.
The socialistic government many voted for has only been in power for 6 months folks! If the Cap & Trade bill the Dems are looking to push through (already passed the House) and the national Health care dream they want become reality then this country will be lost.
Can someone please tell me one government run program that has ever been a success? Would that be Social Security? How about Medicare? Postal Service? NOOOOOO! Everyone one of those runs in RED ink. And so we should spend trillions more to create national health care run by the government which will cover only 50 million of our 350 million population! Oh and there are an estimated 20 million illegals in this country so they will make up 20 of those 50 million people.
Sorry to be a downer, but the Dems will have the White House and super majorities in the House and Senate for at least 1.5 more years when we can at least take the super majority away from them. Unfortunately it may be too late as we’re only 1/4 of the way through their super majority strangle hold now.
Welcome to “Yes we can” and “Change”. Many of us tried to tell people that the CHANGE the Dems were going to give us was Socialism and now it’s become a reality.
Oh and before I forget just remember Obama has already said he’s going to let the Bush tax cuts expire which equates to a tax increase for “everyone” except the lowest class who don’t pay any taxes. Add that tax increase to all the others the Dems say will be necessary to fund their pet programs like National Health care for illegals and that will mean a bare minimum tax burden of at least 10% more then we pay now on all working Americans.
Of course millions of us have already lost our jobs under this oppressive regime and many more will as businesses collapse under the the heavy taxation the Dems are placing on them because they represent the hated rich and need to pay their “fair share”.
Redistribution of wealth. Isn’t Socialism wonderful!?
I agree with you, it is totally ridiculous. I understand what you feel. I am in Canada, so far we don’t have such tax, but who knows!
As we know we have to work so hard to build our business to supplement the loss of our income. We find our way to live without bother any government.
It doesn’t matter if they create laws to support our creative activities but on the other hand they create laws or troubles to damage our business.
Online business is the best way to release the economic tense amount community.
Good luck to all of us
myTanny
CPA Kid – I will assume that stands for cost per action and not certified public accountant
If NC pursues this bill, I believe they would view your set up as a tax evasion scam especially if you set it up specifically to avoid this tax.
Now I am not a tax attorney so there may be legal ways around it. As he mentioned, his corporation is incorporated outside of NC yet he still falls into this category because he has an physical presence there.
Based on the description you gave, he would still have a physical presence there so his off shore company would now have the obligation to collect and remit the tax to NC. So while his revenue would continue his headaches would multiply significantly.
The easy answer is to move but that may not be possible for a variety of reasons. The best answer is to do what he is doing and stop the insanity being driven by our state and federal government.
It will be interesting to see how other affiliate driven companies respond to this.
Good luck in your fight for limited government.