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Overstock kills affiliate programs in 4 states, just like Amazon
Each of those states has either adopted or is about to adopt a law that would require online retailers with in-state affiliate partners to collect sales tax on items sold. The idea is that a web publisher who posts links Amazon, Overstock, or other web stores and gets a commission for items sold through those links is essentially giving the online store a physical presence in the state, which means state tax laws come into play.
On the one hand, states are struggling thanks to the recession, and it makes sense that some states would turn to this tax as a revenue source. On the other hand, if companies like Amazon and Overstock decide that the laws are too burdensome and just pull out of those states altogether, then nobody wins.
It's worth pointing out that you're really supposed to pay sales tax for most things purchased on the internet. But in most cases, the burden is on the shoppers, not the retailers. If enacted, these state laws would require the stores to collect the taxes which consumers pretty much never pay voluntarily.
[via The Business Insider]
It looks like the era of tax-free purchases from web based stores could be coming to an end. A while back, the state of New York decided it could raise a bit of much-needed revenue by collecting tax from online retailers. Generally states can only collect taxes if those retailers have a bricks and mortar presence in the region. But New York figured out an interesting way around that - it decided that advertising affiliates counted as a physical presence. In other words, as long as at least one New York State resident made money by placing Amazon ads on his or her web site or blog, New York could collect taxes.
With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet.
They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...
