Amazon vs. California - the battle lines are drawn

Often you hear comments along the lines of "If the California government does X, then businesses will move out of state."

Well, one business has partially moved out of California, effective tonight yesterday (Blogger was having problems).

Many of you might not read Inland Utopia, but earlier today Matt Munson posted about the email that he received from Amazon Associates, saying that they might terminate his account, and the accounts of all Californians, should the state pass AB 153 to force online companies with no physical presence in California to charge California taxes.

I am an Amazon Associates member, although I haven't hawked anything on my blogs lately, so I also received that email.

This Yesterday evening I received a second email:

Hello,

Unfortunately, Governor Brown has signed into law the bill that we emailed you about earlier today. As a result of this, contracts with all California residents participating in the Amazon Associates Program are terminated effective today, June 29, 2011. Those California residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned before today will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule.

You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of California. If you are not currently a resident of California, or if you are relocating to another state in the near future, you can manage the details of your Associates account here. And if you relocate to another state in the near future please contact us for reinstatement into the Amazon Associates Program.

To avoid confusion, we would like to clarify that this development will only impact our ability to offer the Associates Program to California residents and will not affect your ability to purchase from Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com.

We have enjoyed working with you and other California-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program and, if this situation is rectified, would very much welcome the opportunity to re-open our Associates Program to California residents. As mentioned before, we are continuing to work on alternative ways to help California residents monetize their websites and we will be sure to contact you when these become available.

Regards,

The Amazon Associates Team

Now we'll see what happens...