[Stephanie Lichtenstein]

I am helping spread the word about the fight against the advertising tax. Here is some crucial information for Vermont affiliates. This is time sensitive information so please spread it to anyone you may know in Vermont. Thanks and best of luck!

This was just posted on the PMA blog:

The ad tax is alive in Vermont again, despite our hope it would not get political support. If you are an affiliate marketer living in Vermont, we need your help in fighting this bill. If it passes, out-of-state retailers will most likely terminate their affiliate programs, jeopardizing your income.

We need your urgent help with 2 things:

1. Send emails to committee members by tonight – February 17th!
2. Show up at the hearing tomorrow

Emails:

Please send an email to each of these committee members. Key points and an email template are below.
VT House Ways and Means Committee Contact Information

* Obuchowski of Rockingham, Chair
o Michael Obuchowski obie@leg.state.vt.us
* Ancel of Calais, Vice Chair
o Janet Ancel janetancel@earthlink.net
* Branagan of Georgia, Ranking Member
o Carolyn Branagan cbranagan@leg.state.vt.us
* Clarkson of Woodstock, Clerk
o Alison Clarkson aclarkson@leg.state.vt.us
* Condon of Colchester
o James Condon jcondon@leg.state.vt.us
* Greshin of Warren
o Adam Greshin agreshin@leg.state.vt.us
* Howard of Rutland City
o Adam Howard ahoward@leg.state.vt.us
* Johnson of Canaan
o Mitzi Johnson mjohnson@leg.state.vt.us
* Masland of Thetford
o James Masland jmasland@leg.state.vt.us
* Sharpe of Bristol
o David Sharpe dsharpe@leg.state.vt.us
* Zuckerman of Burlington
o David Zuckerman dzuckerman@leg.state.vt.us

If you would like to call any of these delegates (very powerful!), you can find their phone numbers here.

Key points to keep in mind:

* Be extremely polite and respectful. Do not express your frustration over the bill or the process.
* The following points address what we feel they need to understand:
o You oppose the bill because it doesn’t help Vermont’s budget, and it will devastate your income.
o You have a website and you earn an income by providing ads on your website.
o You advertise, you do not sell. You have nothing to do with any transaction. You don’t take money. You don’t deliver a product. You probably don’t know who the customer is. You advertise and refer traffic to advertisers, that’s it.
o Describe a little about your business or web sites (in simplest terms) and why affiliate marketing is important to you.
o If passed, your out-of-state retailers will most likely terminate, like they did in New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island. And your income will be devastated.

Template

Subject: I oppose HB 661 – Dealer registration for sales and use taxes

Dear Delegate [ ]:

I strongly oppose HB 661 the dealer registration tax bill. If this bill passes, the state will NOT gain additional taxes, and my small business income will be devastated in the process.

My income is earned by selling advertising on web pages. [recommended: insert a few words describing your websites, and why affiliate marketing is important to you – keep it simple!]

If HB 661 passes, out-of-state retailers for whom I advertise will terminate our partnerships. When similar laws were passed in New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island, over 200 retailers terminated their affiliate programs, and many have promised to do the same in Virginia. If these retailers terminate my partnership, my income will be devastated.

This law would be futile: Vermont will not collect any new sales taxes, and my business will be destroyed in the process.

I respectfully request you reject HB 661. It will not earn any additional tax revenue for Vermont, and it will damage my business in the process.

Sincerely,

Thursday Hearing

Legislators pay attention to their constituents. Attending and testifying at a hearing is a tremendously important and powerful way to block this bill. Read about experiences of affiliates who have testified in other states.

If you can make it to the State House, please do! If you are interested in testifying, please email Rebecca Madigan rebeccaATperformancemarketingassociationDOTcom.

The ad tax will be discussed at a hearing, February 18th at 8:30am.

House Committee on Ways and Means AGENDA

Room 34
Thursday, February 18, 2010, Misc Tax Bill Testimony & Markup
8:30 AM H. 661 – An act relating to taxation of certain Internet sales.

[mellie]

Hopefully everyone is ready, Vermont was first announced in January. http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=128973

As always Affiliate Advocacy is helping affiliates as well.

[Stephanie Lichtenstein]

Thanks Mellie!

[Stephanie Lichtenstein]

VT affiliates good news for you...Today HB661 failed to make it out of committee and it is dead.

[Matt McWilliams]

That really is great news for all three Vermont affiliates

Just kidding. Really though, it is outstanding news!

[theslacker]

Yikes. I'm actually an affiliate in Massachusetts (a good sized one) planning on moving to VT in a few months. This just scared the heck out of me! If anyone hears anything else in the future, let me know. When I move up there, I'm happy to try to meet with whoever is necessary to stop this type of thing from happening.