The online state tax issue surrounding the affiliate industry hasn’t gone away. We keep up with this issue as closely as possible and with the new congresses starting up in each state, the industry is finding itself fighting this issue all over again this year. As each state struggles to find revenue to fill their gaps, and the online sales tax is where they are looking.
Idaho is no different. We spent a lot of time speaking with our representatives and the governor’s office last year and the year prior about this particular issue. Several of those elected officials that didn’t quite see the issue as most of us in the industry do were voted out. We think we can rest a little right? Not so.
I was reading the paper this weekend and saw that the legislature in Idaho was attempting to bring up this issue again, but in a slightly different way – it’s called the streamlined sales tax. The concept is simple, there are 50 different sets of state tax laws, instead of each state battling out to get their policies in place, the states come to an overall agreement about how to treat this issue. Some believe that this will solve the problem. If all states collect sales tax, no state, or the people within it (businesses) will have undue disadvantages over the other. You may think this solves the problem. I personally disagree.
You can read more about what is going on in Idaho here.
However you feel about it, the overarching theme is clear, we have to remain vigilant and involved. I’ll be contacting our reps this week. You?
Here are some other recent articles about the sales tax issue in the affiliate industry:
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