Amazon.com is continuing with its policy to abandon its affiliates program in any state that even considers legislation that would force the online retailer to collect and pay sales tax.
Rebecca Madigan
This time Amazon has eighty-sixed its affiliate program in Hawaii. Amazon informed its affiliates Monday, in an email, it was ending its relationship with residents in Rhode Island over a tax collection law passed by the general assembly. The company has also terminated its affialte program in North Carolina due to similar proposed legislation.
Amazon notified it Hawaii affiliates of its decision in an email. “We were forced to take this unfortunate action in anticipation of actual enactment because of the uncertainty and timing of a veto, and the possibility that a veto could be overridden. The governor has until July 15 to veto the bill but, as indicated, the bill has an effective date of July 1,” the e-mail said.
“In the event that Hawaii’s governor vetoes this tax collection scheme, and that veto is not overridden, or in the event the law eventually is repealed, we would certainly be happy to re-open our associates program to Hawaii residents.”
Other states considering similar legislation include California and Connecticut. New York passed such legislation last year, and Amazon has begun collecting sales tax there as it challenges the law in court.
“It’s one of those things that on the surface looks interesting, but we believe the states are just shooting themselves in the foot,” Rebecca Madigan, the founder of an affiliate trade group called the Performance Marketing Alliance told The Wall Street Journal.
