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New York State’s recent action to make sure that they get their tax dollars has had a chilling effect across all affiliates from that region.
In case you haven’t heard, NYS has, for some time, been suspicious of people buying and selling stuff online. The rule was that those companies that had physical offices in NYS had to charge tax, but those with outside offices did not. Obviously they thought they weren’t getting their fair share.
First, they tried to make sure that residents claimed the taxes when they filed in April. They provided a form for general calculations in case the resident didn’t know how much they owed.
My guess is that they didn’t feel that they were still getting the money they were owed, so they went after those companies that weren’t charging tax for items shipped to NYS on their website. Their main target was Amazon.com, but the ripple effect was that it hurt a lot of smaller companies.
A few days ago I got an e-mail from new-egg, from which I purchased the parts for my current computer, and they were telling me that all of their costs were going to go up with the new sales tax.
Next, there have been reports from those that use Performics (my Affiliate system) that different companies have had to drop affiliates living in NYS because they are not equipped to comply with the new law.
I believe that this is going to hurt NYS more than help. Not that NYS does not have the right to ask for the money (if any state has a right to tax its people to death!), nor that the businesses don’t have the right to choose whether to serve the NYS customers—it’s the people that will no longer be able to get their goods, and the affiliates get their commissions that will be the pain point.
My guess, less sales for online companies from NYS and less income for NYS.
