Monday, Luke Knowles, CEO of Kinoli Inc., a Fort Collins-based interactive design and development Web site that has thousands of affiliates, received an e-mail from Amazon indicating it would no longer pay him advertising fees because of a new state law aimed at collecting sales tax on online purchases. The loss of Amazon, one of his top grossing merchants, will hurt his bottom line as other affiliates who rely on Amazon also are cutting ties with his company, Knowles said. The end result is that he is strongly considering moving the company to Montana because it does not have a general sales tax, The Fort Collins Coloradoan reports.
In other coverage:
The Denver Post: The political battle over taxing online sales made through retailers such as Amazon.com intensified Tuesday, with Democrats saying the state should not back down from trying to collect money it’s owed and Republicans arguing the new law should be repealed. The hardened stances came a day after Amazon said it would end its relationships with thousands of online affiliates in Colorado who send business its way through blogs and niche websites and then earn commissions on each sale.
Denver Post Columnist Mike Littwin: I don’t like to say that Amazon is evil, because I’m not in the corporations-are-people legal camp. But it turns out that Amazon is evil. And now that Amazon has fired all its Colorado affiliates — mostly mom-and-pop outfits, and who can resist an outfit with a mom or a pop? — I find I have no choice. In a sales-tax war between Amazon and the Colorado legislature, Amazon has dropped the big one on the innocent affiliates, who have done absolutely nothing wrong except get caught in the crossfire.
The Pueblo Chieftain: Sandra Dykes was as surprised as anyone when Amazon.com on Monday dropped its Colorado retail affiliates. The Pueblo woman’s Classic Cinema Online retail site included a link to Amazon, which cut ties to Colorado affiliates over the state’s broader online sales tax rules. “They were a place where I had my visitors get films and DVDs,” Dykes said of the link that netted her a small fee from Amazon for each customer purchase and movie rental.
Associated Press: The liberal group ProgressNow wants Coloradans to boycott Amazon.com over the retailer’s decision to cut ties with online affiliates in the state. The boycott call came Tuesday, a day after Amazon broke with Colorado bloggers and Web site operators who help it sell products. Amazon blamed the state’s new online tax law for its decision. It requires out-of-state, online retailers to collect taxes or tell customers how much they owe the state each year.
