Illinois Governor Quinn Gets Amazon Affiliates Fired

Rats! I had just signed up to be an Amazon Affiliate and I'm already fired!

The E-Fairness Bill signed into law by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, supported by main street brick and mortar retailers, such as Sears Holdings Corporation (Nasdaq: SHLD) would force online retailers, such as Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) to collect taxes even though they have no physical presence in the state.

Sears said this in a press release: "Sears Holdings Corporation (Nasdaq:SHLD) one of Illinois' oldest retailers, applauds Governor Pat Quinn's approval of House Bill 3659, which will restore long overdue fairness to the tax system for retailers and taxpayers in Illinois. The "E-fairness Law" helps to correct a longstanding problem of out-of-state businesses not collecting and remitting the sales tax in Illinois, a practice that has put brick-and-mortar retailers at an unfair competitive disadvantage for far too long.

"Amazon.com is threatening to leave states and terminate relationships with all its affiliates rather than comply with this new law. As we have stated, we will gladly welcome these affiliates to the Sears Affiliate Team. We recognize and value our relationships with our over 6,500 affiliate partners AND the state and local communities we serve and we look forward to adding new affiliates.

"Sears Holdings thanks state lawmakers in the House and Senate for their overwhelming support for the bill and in particular wants to acknowledge the leadership of the main sponsors of House Bill 3659: Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago), Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) and State Representative Pat Verschoore (D-Milan)."

Sources:

America's Retailers Praise Illinois Governor Pat Quinn for Signing e-Fairness Legislation, Yahoo News, March 10, 2011