Advocacy

On Friday, September 23, Gov. Jerry Brown signed an amended sales tax fairness bill that was the result of a last-minute deal California lawmakers made with Amazon.com.

With the start of Banned Books Week on Saturday, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression’s auction of original children’s book art will enter its final week on eBay.

On Tuesday, Michigan state representatives Eileen Kowall (R) and Jim Ananich (D) joined with bricks-and-mortar retailers, including Matt Norcross of McLean & Eakin Booksellers, at a press event to introduce the Michigan Main Street Fairness Act.

A new study released this week estimates that over the next five years, the failure of remote, online retailers to collect sales tax will cost the state of Tennessee more than 10,000 jobs and about $3 billion in revenue.

ABA is urging members to contact their senators and governor in support of the Main Street Fairness Act, which was introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin in late July. A template letter that can be adapted and sent is available.

Readers across the U.S. and around the world are demonstrating their support for free speech by participating in a virtual read-out of banned and challenged books that culminates in the 30th annual celebration of Banned Books Week, from September 24 – October 1.

Late Friday, September 9, California legislators voted overwhelmingly to approve an amended sales tax fairness bill that would provide Amazon.com with a one-year sales tax exemption while increasing the minimum small business exemption to $1 million from $500,000 in annual sales.

On Friday, September 9, ABFFE launched a three-week online auction on eBay, featuring more than 70 works of art by leading children’s book  illustrators, including Peter Brown, Susan Jeffers, Wendell Minor, Adam Rex, and Paul O. Zelinsky.

Booksellers around the country are responding enthusiastically to the Internet Read-Out that is the focus of this year’s Banned Books Week, September 24 - October 1. Bookstores of all sizes are planning events where they’ll create videos of customers reading from their favorite banned books.

At this month’s SIBA trade show, attendees will have an opportunity to hear an important update on the e-fairness fight from a national and regional perspective, to learn what’s unfolding in key battleground states (including South Carolina, Virginia, and Florida), and to ask questions about what can be a complex and confusing issue.

This week, Florida’s St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Tribune published op-eds by Inkwood Books co-owner Carla Jimenez, who calls on state lawmakers to level the playing field by passing a sales tax fairness law similar to the ones passed in other states, including California, Illinois, and New York.

Earlier this month, state Sen. Randy McNally and Rep. Charles Sargent sought the Tennessee Attorney General’s legal opinion as to whether companies that maintain warehouse or distribution facilities in the state are already required to collect and remit sales tax under current sales tax laws.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression has released tools to help booksellers participate in the Internet Read-Out that will occur during Banned Books Week, from September 24 - October 1.

This week, ABA CEO Oren Teicher wrote to Senators Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine to urge them to support the Main Street Fairness Act. In a recent news article, Sen. Snowe said she opposed the federal sales tax fairness legislation and Sen. Collins expressed doubts.

On Friday, July 29, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the Main Street Fairness Act, federal sales tax fairness legislation that would authorize states under the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA) to require remote retailers to collect and remit sales tax in those states.