Tricia Meyer

Affiliate Marketer, Blogger, and Consultant

Affiliate Impacting Legislation Before House Judiciary Committee

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US House Judiciary CommitteeThis morning I spent about 3 hours watching a House Judiciary Committee hearing on H.R. 3179, the Marketplace Equity Act. (I know, I’m both an affiliate and legal geek in so many ways.) Although the hearing got a good deal of coverage from the media, I was surprised to see so few affiliate marketers talking about the hearing. What is this legislation and why is it so important to Affiliate Marketing? I’m sure that the PMA will be writing something more in depth about all of this soon, but I wanted to get this information out today while people might be thinking about it.

What Is the Marketplace Equity Act?

H.R. 3179 is a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would allow each state to collect sales tax from out-of-state retailers when purchases are made by residents of the state. It’s goal is to “level the playing field” between brick-and-mortar and online retailers. A similar bill, S. 1832, the Marketplace Fairness Act, has already been introduced in the Senate.

Why Is this Important to Affiliate Marketing? [Read more…]

Help Fight the Advertising Tax

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The advertising tax/affiliate tax/Amazon tax is threatening to kill small businesses just like mine, and it is time that I join the fight. I’ll be honest and admit that I am new to this. When the legislation first started popping up, I figured if it wasn’t my state, it didn’t impact me. Then I really started paying attention and listening to what was happening. I listened in to the entire Colorado proceedings and followed along with my friends on Twitter. By the end of the night, I knew that regardless of whether the fight was about Indiana, I needed to be better educated and get involved.

States are attempting to use legislation to get around federal laws that prohibit them from collecting sales tax from out of state businesses unless there is a “nexus” within that state. The states are passing legislation that would make an affiliate a “nexus,” despite the fact that we do not take any money or send out any goods. States think that they will increase their revenue. Conversely, the merchants are just disaffiliating with the affiliates and the affiliates are losing their businesses. How is that good for anyone involved?

Following the advice of the Performance Marketing Association, I made a quick video about how you can get involved in fighting the advertising tax. It doesn’t matter which group you join or if you even join a group. The bottom line is that you need to 1) get educated, 2) get connected with others involved, and 3) spread the word. While big businesses may have the money to fight these fights, we have the voices and the personal stories that can stop states from taking our businesses away from us.

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