Advocacy

ABA is encouraging members to hold off making any decision on filing the swipe fee settlement notice in the federal antitrust lawsuit over rapidly rising Visa and MasterCard credit card swipe fees until the association issues a recommendation.

ABA is encouraging booksellers to ask their federal lawmakers to support the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013, legislation that would give states the authority to require remote retailers to collect and remit sales tax on purchases made by customers in their state.

Booksellers looking to find out more about how the Affordable Care Act will affect their businesses are encouraged to sign up for a free healthcare reform webinar hosted by the Small Business Majority and ABA.

As a bipartisan coalition of U.S. lawmakers seeks to pass federal sales tax fairness legislation, a Utah Senate committee approved an affiliate-nexus bill sponsored by Sen. Wayne Harper, and in West Virginia, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has proposed legislation that would require remote retailers with warehouses in the state to collect and remit sales tax.

Registration is now open to ABA member booksellers for a free March 26 webinar “Your Bottom Line: What Healthcare Reform Means for Your Small Business,” presented by ABA and the Small Business Majority.

Today, February 20, is the date set by state of Georgia for all retailers to submit sales taxes collected for the month of January. Legislation, which went into effect on January 1, made clear that Amazon.com has nexus in Georgia and is therefore required to collect sales tax on purchases made by state residents.

On Thursday, February 14, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators and representatives announced the introduction of a sales tax fairness bill that would give states the authority to require remote retailers to collect and remit sales tax on purchases made by customers in their state.

ABFFE will conduct a silent auction of 25 original children’s book artworks in conjunction with the Authors Reception at Winter Institute 8.

Laurie Halse Anderson, a featured panelist at the Wi8 session “Banned Books, Censorship, and YA Literature,” speaks to ABFFE President Chris Finan about how she chooses the subjects for her books and why people try to ban them.

Sherman Alexie and Laurie Halse Anderson, bestselling authors and passionate defenders of the freedom to read, will be at Winter Institute 8 to discuss efforts to ban their books and other young adult works that some people claim are too “dark” for children.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy has announced that as of November 1, 2013, Amazon.com will begin collecting state sales tax in exchange for opening a distribution center in Connecticut and bringing jobs to the state.

The 2013 post-holiday Independent Business Survey, conducted by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in partnership with ABA and other indie business organizations, has found that independent businesses experienced solid revenue growth in 2012, buoyed in part by “buy local first” initiatives and growing public interest in supporting locally owned businesses.

On Monday, February 4, the Indiana House of Representatives passed sales tax fairness legislation that would require remote retailers with nexus in the state via online affiliates or warehouses to collect and remit sales tax to the state beginning July 1, 2013.

More than two years after a New York State appellate court dismissed claims by Amazon.com and Overstock.com that the state’s sales tax fairness law was unconstitutional, on Wednesday, February 6, the defendants were back in court arguing their case, this time before the State of New York Court of Appeals.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression’s newest affiliate is Filofax, a premier supplier of journals, datebooks, planners, and writing instruments, including Lamy pens and pencils, and all Letts of London products.