Amazon Fired Me And I'm Glad

By Author: Rob Thomas
Total Articles: 4762
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I received an email notice from Amazon terminating my participation in the Amazon Associates program.

I have been earning around $120 a month from this program, by placing ads for recommended books on various web sites that I own. This was a nice bonus for recommending good products from a company that has always done well by me.

So why did I get fired? I was fired because my corporation is based in Colorado, where I lived when I started it. You see, the kleptocrats in the Colorado state government passed a law which created onerous reporting and auditing requirements for Amazon. It was cheaper for Amazon to fire all of their affiliates in Colorado than to deal with the bureaucrats in state government.

The idiots in the Colorado state government believed that this new law would bring them $4.7M tax dollars per year. Instead, it will bring in $0. Worse, it will cause 4,200 Amazon affiliates in Colorado to lose $37.5M in yearly revenue -- which will reduce state corporate and personal income taxes. This law was a lose-lose proposition from the start.

In addition, the Colorado government is hiring ...
... two new employees to administer the law. One will build a database to track and investigate compliance and the other to handle the expected lawsuits arising from this bill. This bill causes revenue to go down and costs to go up -- way to go Governor Ritter!

Colorado is losing revenue and Coloradoans are losing revenue -- and it's our fault. We get the government we deserve. We brought this upon ourselves when we voted for these kleptocrats.

Tax competition is here to stay. We're not tied to doing business in Colorado like a bunch of serfs. If Colorado doesn't want us, we can do business elsewhere. It looks like a lot of small businesses will now be "moving" from Colorado to Delaware or Nevada.

I support Amazon's decision to protect the future of American business by refusing to bend knee to these kleptocrats. This cost me money, but it was the right thing to do.

Here's the text of the notice from Amazon:

Dear Colorado-based Amazon Associate:

We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to inform you that the Colorado government recently enacted a law to impose sales tax regulations on online retailers. The regulations are burdensome and no other state has similar rules. The new regulations do not require online retailers to collect sales tax. Instead, they are clearly intended to increase the compliance burden to a point where online retailers will be induced to "voluntarily" collect Colorado sales tax -- a course we won't take.

We and many others strongly opposed this legislation, known as HB 10-1193, but it was enacted anyway. Regrettably, as a result of the new law, we have decided to stop advertising through Associates based in Colorado. We plan to continue to sell to Colorado residents, however, and will advertise through other channels, including through Associates based in other states.

There is a right way for Colorado to pursue its revenue goals, but this new law is a wrong way. As we repeatedly communicated to Colorado legislators, including those who sponsored and supported the new law, we are not opposed to collecting sales tax within a constitutionally-permissible system applied even-handedly. The US Supreme Court has defined what would be constitutional, and if Colorado would repeal the current law or follow the constitutional approach to collection, we would welcome the opportunity to reinstate Colorado-based Associates.

You may express your views of Colorado's new law to members of the General Assembly and to Governor Ritter, who signed the bill.

Your Associates account has been closed as of March 8, 2010, and we will no longer pay advertising fees for customers you refer to Amazon.com after that date. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to March 8, 2010, will be processed and paid in accordance with our regular payment schedule. Based on your account closure date of March 8, any final payments will be paid by May 31, 2010.

We have enjoyed working with you and other Colorado-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program, and wish you all the best in your future.

Best Regards,

The Amazon Associates Team
About Author:
Rob Thomas is a member of NetBuilders who maintains Quotes on Taxes.