Even though the proposed tax hikes in the House version of the budget have yet to take effect, the mere mention of it has already caused North Carolina citizens to lose income. Online powerhouse Amazon.com has notified its web partners in North Carolina that a proposed new tax in the budget is more trouble than they are willing to put up with and they will be ending all agreements in the state rather than collect the tax.
The Greensboro News & Record's Mark Binker has a good summary of the story. Basically, any websites based in North Carolina that help Amazon.com sell their products by having click through ads will be out of luck and out of cash.
Amazon.com broke the news to their affiliates with the following email message this morning:
General Assembly) appears ready to enact an unconstitutional tax
collection scheme that would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end
its relationships with North Carolina-based Associates.”
When lawmakers consider new taxes and new sources of revenue, do they ever think about the consequences of strangling the golden goose? In this case, the bill has yet to pass and has already cost an industry income. The attitude among several of these professional wealth killers at the Legislature is "So what? What choice does a company have?" Well, according to Amazon.com, there are at least two choices. Comply and lose money or pull out of North Carolina altogether and lose less.
So much for seeking those "green" jobs now that the largest online retailer has black balled the state.
When I first heard about this move by Amazon.com, I mistakenly thought it had to do with the new gift giving tax proposed in the House budget that taxes packages sent via Fedex or UPS. Maybe the folks at Amazon.com haven't heard about that one yet. But I have a feeling that they soon will.
One web designer based in NC that earns money from “click throughs” started calling Texas this afternoon. He will have a Texas Corporation set up by end of month and will begin his personal move by end of year.
Hey folks 7% of nothing is nothing.