Affiliate Tax - Who is really sticking it to who?

Last week California signed into their version of the dreaded affiliate tax. California is in so much debt they are looking for anyway to make money.... right?!?? Almost as quickly as that announcement was made Amazon promptly shutdown their affiliate program to residents of California just like they had done on the heels of announcements in New York and other states who passed similar taxation.   At first I thought this was a big deal... But when you remove the rhetoric and emotion and replace it with people with real first hand experience the more you become enlightened as to what is really going on.

• I use over 20 different Affiliate networks. Not one of my payouts have been effected.
• I know almost every major Affiliate in space. Most of them are located in California and New York. You know the places where Affiliates are supposedly screwed. Not one of them have told me that they have been effected.
• I also know every major affiliate network. A significant portion are located in New York. Amazingly enough they are still in business and all have had significant growth since the tax was put into place. ZOMG how does that work?!?!?

Is this really the greedy government in action or is it the system finally catching up and playing on people’s stupidity (both politicians and affiliates) so HUGE affiliate programs like Amazon can blame it on the government? Here is the truth. Amazon has been fucking affiliates slowly while they have been establishing themselves mainstream. What is their cookie duration down to now? Like 20 minutes? Tell me I am wrong? Tell me without affiliates Amazon is screwed! I would argue that this affiliate tax is giving the powerful the perfect excuse to fuck the little guy.

• Do you think affiliate networks are going to eat the tax for the smaller affilaites or use it as a excuse to weed them out?
• Do you think Affiliate networks are going to eat the tax for the 1% of affiliates that produce 99% of their revenue?

And of course where there is hardship there will be shady ass organizations like the Performance Marketing Alliance who step up to take advantage of idiots. How many top affiliates are on board with them? None because most know that its founded and funded by some of the biggest crooks in the business. But back to topic at hand. The bottom line is Affiliate Marketing is going no where. People are ALWAYS going to need a sales force online and they will pay the price for it. The market will correct itself just like its done with EVERY other form of advertising since the beginning of time. This state tax is a VERY SMALL THING of whats coming. Prepare for way more government regulation in our industry. We have had it far to good for far to long. The internet robber baron days are coming to a end. But that's my take. What say you?