Advocacy

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.

The strong reaction of independent booksellers and other Main Street advocates to President Obama’s visit to an Amazon warehouse in Tennessee to deliver an address on job creation was reported in media outlets across the country.

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has compiled five facts about Amazon’s true economic impact on communities across the country that Main Street businesses can use when talking to the media.

On the heels of press reports that Amazon has drastically lowered the price on many hardcover titles, on Monday, July 29, the Board of Directors of the American Booksellers Association and CEO Oren Teicher criticized President Obama’s decision to hold his jobs speech this week at an Amazon facility in Tennessee.

Maine and Missouri enact affiliate nexus laws; SIBA launches read-aloud program Parapalooza; Man Booker Prize longlist revealed; Romance Writers of America announces RITA, Golden Heart winners; Student spending on textbooks increases; ABFFE asks for transparency from Congress; Amazon loses battle to acquire .amazon Internet suffix

In a  report released last week, Dr. Arthur Laffer, a leading proponent of conservative economics, and co-author Donna Arduin, a former state budget director, argue that implementing sales tax fairness is necessary to address a fundamental inequity in the free market.

The Campaign for Reader Privacy is urging its supporters to immediately call members of Congress to request support for the Amash amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill, which will be voted on either Wednesday or Thursday of this week. The amendent would bar the NSA from obtaining the telephone records of people who are not suspected of engaging in illegal acts.