Advocacy

In a surprising move, Amazon.com has reportedly withdrawn its request for a tax abatement and reduced building permit fees from Windsor, Connecticut, which it had asked for in exchange for opening a 1.5 million-square-foot distribution facility in the town.

National Book Foundation to honor E.L. Doctorow, Maya Angelou; Judy Blume to receive NAIBA’s Legacy and Carla Cohen Free Speech awards; Hugo Award winners announced; Amazon begins collecting sales tax in Georgia and Virginia

Though “Banned Books Week in a Box” promotional kits are all gone, booksellers can still take advantage of Ingram’s additional discount on a list of 200 banned or challenged books. ABFFE is also offering a promotional kit, including bookmarks, buttons, bumper stickers, and more, for $25 plus free shipping.

ABA CEO Oren Teicher has written an open letter to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos that highlights the discrepancy between the company’s professed support for e-fairness and its ongoing business practices.

After challenging New York State’s sales tax fairness law three times — and losing three times — at the state level, Amazon.com and Overstock.com have taken the fight to the nation’s highest court.

While Amazon.com has agreed with the state of Connecticut to begin collecting and remitting sales tax in the state as of November 1, 2013, the online retailer is now seeking multi-year property tax abatements and other exemptions from Windsor, Connecticut, in exchange for opening a distribution center in the town.

This week, a coalition of 18 independent trade associations, led by ABA, urged the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on the Judiciary to hold a hearing on sales tax fairness.

Last week, the Federal Reserve appealed the July ruling by a U.S. district court  that found the cap set by the Fed on debit card swipe fees was too high and did not follow Congress’ intent when it implemented swipe fee reforms required by the Durbin Amendment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Amazon has fired all its online affiliates in Missouri to avoid the requirement to collect and remit sales tax to the state. Missouri passed an affiliate nexus law in July.

Earlier this month, the White House announced the launch of a “one-stop-shop” that provides employers with access to information on the Affordable Care Act.

Last weekend, the Opinion Pages of the New York Times’ Sunday Review featured “Tumult in the Book World,” a dialogue in letters, including one from ABA President Steve Bercu, that were solicited by the paper to answer the question “Can traditional bookstores survive the digital marketplace?”

Beginning September 1, Amazon.com will begin complying with Georgia’s affiliate nexus law, which went into effect on January 1. Enforcement of the law is expected to add $16 million annually to the state’s coffers and create more than 50,000 jobs.

That’s the message of the Alliance for Main Street Fairness, which highlights three steps that small business owners and other local citizens can take during Congress’ August recess to encourage their U.S. representatives to support the Marketplace Fairness Act.

A consequence of Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations is that a real battle is brewing to restore the privacy rights taken away by Section 215 of the Patriot Act, writes ABFFE President Chris Finan.

Since President Obama’s jobs speech at an Amazon warehouse on July 30, there has been an outpouring of disappointment from independent booksellers across the country about the president’s choice of venue.