I am looking for those who have been affected by this bill living in the Greeley/Evans area for an article I am doing regarding this tax.

If you are an affiliate, I would like to hear from you regardless of your thoughts towards the merchant that terminated your account.

I can be contacted at jackminor@comcast.net or call me at 970-302-3470.

Thanks,

Jack Minor

On a separate note, it is still sad that media is way too yellow when we (or actually, the broader community) really need a sober analysis instead.

No, they didn’t. They’ve been building for the past decade as more and more dollars are spent online rather than in local businesses. Every year, we as an industry brag about how much more money is being spent online, but we never consider what that means for state budgets. We need a viable online sales tax plan – but the idea that affiliates can be used to do an end-run around existing laws to make it happen sickens me. The politicians aren’t the bad guys. Amazon isn’t the bad guy. Affiliates certainly aren’t the bad guys. There are no bad guys here, only people that are trying to make the best they can of a horrible situation with the information they have.

Kansas City, MO is closing 29 schools, nearly half in the district, due to budget shortfalls. Areas of Colorado are going to similar extremes, as are areas in other states.

It’s easy to think of politicians as evil, especially when it’s your livelihood that they’re messing with, and especially when they’re not of the party that you identify yourself with (if I had a nickel for every slam against “the Democrats” lately…). But they’re human beings. Most of them want nothing more than to do the right thing. They’re wrong about using affiliates in this way, and thanks to people like Jen, they took the affiliate language out of the bill. They were willing to do the right thing. It’s a start.

It is sad to hear how mis-focused media really is. Scandal is all they are after, regardless of how non-yellow this or that channel may want to appear on the surface.

Jen, I have had similar experience with the media regarding this issue. As soon as reporters heard I was not against any merchant who terminated they would try and argue with me.

Skewing the news to suit their needs or opinions by only printing “like voices” is not getting the real story out. It is also adding to the “anti” Amazon stance some legislators have.

As you probably know, Colorado, like most states has what is actually called a “sales and use tax”. Every time someone buys something they owe this tax. If the merchant collects the sales tax at the time of purchase and remits it to the Revenue department it is a sales tax. If a merchant does not collect it, the “buyer” still owes it and is required to pay it direct to Revenue department; and it is then called a use tax.

The new law in Colorado seeks to improve the collection of the “Colorado use tax”. It wants to improve the collecting of the sales and use tax on purchase by a “Colorado purchaser” from a “retailer that does not collect Colorado sales tax”. Colorado use tax is only due on items brought into Colorado, not items shipped out of Colorado.

I assume you are already in compliance for sales you currently make in Colorado and to Colorado resident. This law is directed at “Retailers that do not collect Colorado sales tax” which are usually out of state merchants. New law does not affect a Colorado business that already collects the Colorado sales tax.

This link to the Colorado Emergency Regulations to Clarify HB1193 should be helpful.

As Geno also mentioned, since we are not lawyers or accountants, run everything by your accountant or lawyer.

Again, don’t take this as a legal or accounting advice, and talk to your lawyer or accountant to be 100% clear. But it doesn’t seem like out-of-state sales are in any way affected by this new legislation.