Advocacy

This week, the Virginia State Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass e-fairness legislation, while senators in Maryland and Illinois introduced bills that would bring about sales tax equity for thousands of retailers in their states. In addition, legislators in California appear to be moving closer to bringing about e-fairness in the state. And, in Colorado, members of the State House of Representatives passed a uniquely amended version of sales tax legislation that looks to focus on consumer use tax compliance, and it is expected that Gov. Bill Ritter will sign the bill into law.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) welcomed a ruling on Wednesday by the Ohio Supreme Court that booksellers and other owners of "generally accessible" websites cannot be prosecuted under an Ohio law that makes it a crime to electronically disseminate to minors material that is "obscene or harmful."

This week, the American Booksellers Association announced the addition of an op-ed template to the new E-Fairness Action Kit (E-FACT). Booksellers are urged to adapt the op-ed and to e-mail it to their local newspapers as a way of promoting the issue of e-fairness.

Once again, the American Booksellers Association is partnering with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and a wide range of other indie business groups on a national post-holiday survey of independent businesses.

As states ring in the new year faced with significant budget shortfalls, it is clear that e-fairness will be a major focus in 2010. With a tremendous opportunity to win a significant victory for sales tax equity around the country, the American Booksellers Association has launched a new E-Fairness Action Kit (E-FACT) that provides booksellers with crucial, state-specific tools to help them in their e-fairness outreach efforts.

Booksellers can finally exhale after a holiday season that, for the most part, was an improvement over a dismal 2008. The season saw sales dips at some indie booksellers, but these declines were outnumbered by modest, and sometimes robust, gains at others. Booksellers from across the country reported that the Local First movement was bearing fruit, and several reaped the benefits of creative, homegrown marketing campaigns.

Faced with budget shortfalls, state governments will be looking at different ways to increase sales and use tax revenue, according to the white paper "The Impact of the Loss of State Sales and Use Tax Revenue", which was recently released by CCH, a provider of tax, accounting, and audit information, software, and services.

On Saturday, November 21, the U.S. Senate voted 60 - 39, along party lines, to open debate on the Senate health care reform bill, "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said debate would begin on the bill on Monday, November 30.

Last week, the Obama Administration announced plans for a "White House to Main Street" tour that will take the president to cities and towns across the country over the next few months to speak with workers and share ideas for the nation's continued economic recovery. President Obama sees the tour as an opportunity to "take the temperature on what Americans are experiencing during these challenging economic times," according to a White House press release.

On Thursday, November 5, Frank Kramer, owner emeritus of Harvard Book Store and co-chair of Cambridge Local First, spoke in favor of e-fairness at a public meeting on tax policy held in Cambridge by the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Revenue.

On Tuesday, November 3, in Washington, D.C., more than 130 small business owners from 25 states, gathered on Capitol Hill and at the White House to urge that Congress reform health care.

On November 2, the trade association ComicsPRO wrote to the U.S. Department of Justice to join in the American Booksellers Association's request that the department investigate practices by Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and Target that "may constitute illegal predatory pricing."

ComicsPRO represents the interests of direct-market comic book retailers, and its letter was signed by its nine-member Board of Directors.

Last week, the Board of Directors of the American Booksellers Association sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice requesting that it investigate practices by Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and Target that it believes constitute illegal predatory pricing.

By William Petrocelli of Book Passage in San Francisco and Corte Madera, California

What looks like a simple price war between Amazon, Target, and Wal-Mart over a handful of bestsellers is symptomatic of a much deeper problem in the book business. The larger fight is really over what you get to read.

Faced with significant education and general budget shortfalls, officials in Alabama are examining the possibility of bringing the state into compliance with the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA) to recoup an estimated $104 million that could be lost in 2009 to remote online retailers, as reported by the Alabama Press-Register.