I 've tried to contact at least one large affiliate in my town and sent this letter to my state congressman (Joe Rice):
Mr. Rice,
I'm contacting you to raise an issue that will force my business (and many others) to close down or move to another state. Before I have to move I want to see if we can try to do the smart thing and avoid making Colorado the 4th state to pass such a disastrous measure.
Here is the piece of concern (page 19 using PDF search or Page 6 on the printed paper):
http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite...&ssbinary=true
Here is an article on this issue:
http://affiliateadvocacy.com/2009/rocky-mountain-lows/
Here is a place a lot can be learned about this issue and how it was defeated in 2 states California and Hawaii with Florida probably also being safe:
http://forum.abestweb.com/forumdisplay.php?f=543
It looks like Colorado will not even vote on this issue but simply adopt a new regulation making it very scary for businesses like mine.
Here is a summary of the problem:
To avoid having to collect taxes on their sales (by the way, today this is still a very complex task to perform for small merchants given the complexity of all state/city taxes in the thousands of US zip codes) the merchants (Amazon.com .etc..) are dropping the relation they have with affiliates.
For example: Amazon Drops More Affiliates to Avoid Tax
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124630810805070105.html
This impacts our affiliate based businesses forcing us to shut down or move to another state. Some affiliate based business are very successful and earn very high commissions. A few successful affiliates alone probably earn the $5 millions dollars this tax is supposed to bring in. The cost to the state in lost revenue will surpass the revenue it generates by a important factor. This is why California and Hawaii have vetoed those measures.
California announcement:
"Report in LaTimes blog that Governor vetoed.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sho...her-states.html
Overstock is quoted as saying they will reinstate Calif. affiliates but adding they will terminate affiliates in any state that passes or is close to passing nexus laws that would require them to collect sales tax."
Hawaii:
Governor vetoes measure:
http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/4...nline-tax-bill
Governors quote:
"“I am vetoing this bill immediately to help ensure Hawaii is not economically hurt by legislation that was not well thought-out and would have negative consequences for non-profits such as the University of Hawaii bookstore, and businesses throughout our State,” Governor Lingle said. “I am hopeful by vetoing this bill that mainland-based companies will promptly restore their relationships with our State.”"
Amazon offer to re-enroll Hawaii affiliates:
http://affiliate-blog.amazon.com/200...s-program.html
Thank you very much,
.../... My contact info .../..."