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AS STATES TRY TO FORCE retailers to collect taxes on online sales, internet retailer Amazon.com is pushing back hard. As the North Carolina legislature prepared to vote on a new law that would require force online retailers to collect the 4.5% sales taxes from marketing affiliates in North Carolina, Amazon.com abruptly terminated all business relationships in the state. In a June 24 letter to North Carolina marketing affiliates, Amazon declared, "We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to notify you that your Associates account has been closed as of June 26, 2009. This is a direct result of the unconstitutional tax collection scheme expected to be passed any day now by the North Carolina state legislature...
