[bmg125]

Got this sent to me. Looks like another possible avenue to speak against the Affiliate Tax and the harm it is doing to an entire industry within the state. Thought people might be interested.

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Setting government straight

Flickr_DSC_0146.jpgGov. Bev Perdue wants to cut through barriers to progress in North Carolina, and she needs your help.

This week, Gov. Perdue outlined a plan to review state government rules and regulations with an eye on eliminating the ones that just don’t make any sense.

“What has prevented you as a business person from creating a job? What has prevented you as an entrepreneur from developing something innovative?” Gov. Perdue said. “I’m calling on all the people of North Carolina to really step up and tell me what rules aren’t working.”

Gov. Perdue’s plan is part of her commitment to setting government straight. She announced the rule review at a playground at Perry Harrison Elementary School in Pittsboro.

Because of a regulation that governed childcare facility playgrounds but did not apply to public schools, children enrolled in after school programs that operate in a school were not allowed to play on the school’s playground.

“Because of a silly rule, when the bell rang, the same playground these kids were on all day long suddenly wasn’t good enough,” Perdue said. “That just simply doesn’t make sense.”

Other rules prevent the building of offshore wind turbines or slow general contractors from taking on new projects or hiring more people.

Gov. Perdue announced a new website, setgovernmentstraight.nc.gov where state residents can learn more and leave suggestions of rules that should be eliminated or changed. Every suggestion will be reviewed, and ideas can be submitted anonymously.

Gov. Perdue said she will make whatever changes she can as governor. Other rules must be changed in the legislature and Gov. Perdue promised to work with lawmakers to the reforms a reality.

“This is a chance to help bring some North Carolina common sense to government,” she said.

[RebeccaMadiganPMA]

This could be a great opportunity. I wonder it takes to get something reviewed.

There's a big lawsuit going on, Amazon and ACLU are both suing the state, in their attempt to collect back sales taxes from out-of-state merchants, even though they terminated affiliates. But it is based on an old statute, not the affiliate nexus tax that was passed. I'm just thinking out loud here, just wondering if there's an opportunity or correlation.

I wonder what we could do to get her attention. Let's get some ideas brewing here!

[bmg125]

Looks like a federal judge in Seattle ruled in favor of Amazon in this case. From what I read, there haven't been any comments from either side and it will be interesting to see if North Carolina wants to appeal the decision.

Here is a link to the article if you are interested:

Welcome to E-Commerce Times

[AffiliateHound]

Originally Posted by bmg125

Looks like a federal judge in Seattle ruled in favor of Amazon in this case. From what I read, there haven't been any comments from either side and it will be interesting to see if North Carolina wants to appeal the decision.

Here is a link to the article if you are interested:

Welcome to E-Commerce Times

WOW!

This is a MAJOR VICTORY for affiliate marketing, and could be the first step to knocking out some of the worst features of this wave of new legislation (Colorado's law in particular, and what had most recently been proposed in Calfiornia):

Judge Marsha J. Pechman ruled Monday that Amazon is not obligated to provide the names, addresses and purchasing records of North Carolina residents with whom the company has done business between August 2003 and February 2010.

"The First Amendment protects a buyer from having the expressive content of her purchase of books, music and audiovisual materials disclosed to the government," Pechman wrote in her ruling. "Citizens are entitled to receive information and ideas through books, films and other expressive materials anonymously."

...

While the ruling could still be appealed, the swiftness of decision could slow the march of such efforts going forward, Joseph Henchman, tax counsel and director of state projects for The Tax Foundation, told the E-Commerce Times.

"I think it certainly has the impact to slow a lot of these efforts, mainly because I think a lot of people were under the impression the state would win," he said.

From the case summary as reported, it appears the "nexus" issues was not addressed in this case.

Add: MODs - this is an extremely important development - maybe these last couple of posts should be split out into a separate thread?

[JCrooks - buy.at]

We know that things aren't done here in Colorado, so once our new legislators get sworn in, we'll take up the fight again to eliminate what does exist.