Amazon.com has killed another affiliates program due to proposed legislation that would force the company to collect and pay sales tax in Rhode Island.
The move comes less than a week after Amazon notified its affiliates in North Carolina it would be ending its program there due to similar proposed legislation.
The affiliates are members of a program called Amazon Associates, which allows them to place ads for Amazon items on their websites. Users can click through to Amazon's site, and each affiliate receives money if a purchase is made.
Rhode Island affiliate Rick Wilson posted Amazon's termination email on his blog.
"We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to notify you that your Associates account has been closed as of June 29, 2009. This is a direct result of the unconstitutional tax collection scheme passed by the Rhode Island General Assembly with a veto-proof majority."
"As a result, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com after June 29. We were forced to take this unfortunate action in anticipation of actual enactment because of uncertainties surrounding the legislation's effective date."
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