BTW News Briefs
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List of States Where Amazon Collects Sales Tax Grows
On January 1, Amazon began collecting and remitting sales tax in three more states in which it has warehouses: Indiana, Nevada, and Tennessee. Amazon now collects sales tax in 19 states, whose combined population is roughly 180 million, more than half of U.S. residents, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In Tennessee, Amazon was operating under an exemption that came to an end on December 31, 2013. Tennessee officials estimated missing out on $23 million in sales tax revenue in 2012, as reported by the Nashville Business Journal. Nevada expects to take in an estimated $16 million in sales tax revenue from purchases on Amazon at a sales tax rate of 8.1 percent, as previously reported in Bookselling This Week.
In Indiana, under a deal Amazon negotiated with Gov. Daniels, the retailer had been exempt from collecting sales tax until January 1, 2014, in exchange for opening warehouses in the state.
Kate DiCamillo Named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature
Author Kate DiCamillo has been appointed as the new National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2014-2015 by the Library of Congress, reported the New York Times on Thursday.
A Newbery Medal Award winner and honoree, DiCamillo will use “Stories Connect Us” as her platform while serving as ambassador. Literature Librarian of Congress James H. Billington called DiCamillo “not only one of our finest writers for young people but also an outstanding advocate for the importance of reading.”
DiCamillo, who follows Walter Dean Myers as ambassador, will be inaugurated on January 10 at 11:00 a.m. at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The position was created by the Center for the Book, the Children’s Book Council, and Every Child a Reader and serves to raise national awareness about the importance of young people’s literature.
Authors Guild Files Appeal
As CNET reported on Monday, the Authors Guild has followed through with its promise to appeal the recent decision by Federal Judge Denny Chin that dismissed its lawsuit against Google for copyright infringement. The lawsuit claimed that Google digitally copied books into an online library without permission. Google argued that the partial text it makes available falls within the fair use limitations of U.S. copyright law. The notice of appeal was filed in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.