A post in two parts
I. E-Fairness
No, taxes aren't fun. (And I say this as someone who has to pay non-resident taxes in New York, so I know whereof I speak.)
I'm not just talking about the ones you pay annually (or quarterly, for all the self-employed), but the ones you pay without thinking about it, the ones that are just a line item on your bill.
The question of e-fairness is back in the news this week as more states are getting ready to follow New York's lead and recognize affiliate marketers as physical presences for the purposes of tax law - specifically, sales tax. The Site That Shall Not Be Named and other online retailers have responded by terminating those affiliate relationships or threatening to do so.
Obviously, ABA - and by extension, Omnibus - isn't a neutral reporter in this situation. We lobbied for the clarification of nexus in New York, and we're working with and on behalf of our members in other states. Certainly there's an aspect of self-interest; not collecting sales tax allows indies' competitors to offer items at a lower cost independent of discounting. But we refer to this effort as e-fairness because it's also about equitable tax collection.
Len Vlahos, our new COO, is much smarter than me, so I'm just going to borrow his words: "To extent sales tax exists, it should be collected at point of sale. To allow only some to rely on use tax creates inequities."
II. Fun stuff
Because finding out where the word cliché came from (courtesy of Jenny Davidson) is what makes blogging worth it.
Anyone who has spent time typing in ISBNs can join me in celebrating the bar code's recent anniversary.
I may have found a new style guide to love, courtesy of the one at Abbeville.
Mike Shatzkin looks at whether family ownership should be valued more heavily in evaluating a business. Any family-owned bookstores care to weigh in?
"They sound like nerds." For me, that's a selling point.
I may have mentioned once or twice that Paul Kozlowski has an excellent blog. He's been particularly on this week.
How not to fix children's books.
Posted at 04:16PM Jul 01, 2009 by Sarah Rettger in General |
