BTW News Briefs

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Simplified Online Sales Tax Initiative Making Progress

On Wednesday, August 13, the Wall Street Journal reported that states are making progress with a program intended to simplify how sales tax is collected from out-of-state retailers. The Streamlined Sales Tax Project, which includes 20 states that have passed legislation to simply their sales tax laws, would make it easier to collect an estimated $13 billion in sales taxes from online purchases. The initiative is not expected to be in place until late 2004, at the earliest.

The project has spurred some confusion regarding the issue of online sales tax collection, both in the media and among a number of state taxing authorities. The American Booksellers Association, for one, has made clear that states already possess the authority to collect tax for online purchases made within their own state under existing tax laws, as reported by Bookselling This Week.

In May, ABA President Ann Christophersen sent a letter sent to the governors of the 45 states that collect sales tax, stressing ABA's position that "online retailers that have an indisputable physical 'bricks-and-mortar' presence in your state are no different than any other business within your state. When any business, or any online business that has a physical counterpart within the state, makes a sale to a customer within that state, they are required by law to collect sales tax. As such, your state can enforce your existing tax laws with regards to online retailers now -- without passing a new law or changing an existing one." (To read more about this issue, click here.)

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Al Franken Sued by Fox News Channel

On Tuesday, August 12, it was announced that Fox News Channel had filed suit Monday against humorist Al Franken and the Penguin Group for trademark infringement, as reported by CBSNEWS.com. Fox News filed the lawsuit to stop use of the term "fair and balanced" in the title of Franken's upcoming book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. According to the suit, Fox contends that Franken is trying to exploit the term "Fair & Balanced," which the news channel says it registered as a trademark in 1995, CBSNEWS.com noted. A spokesperson for Dutton accused Fox of trying to suppress publication of the book.

At a May 31 "MediaTalk" luncheon panel at BookExpo America in Los Angeles, panelists Franken and Fox News talk show host Bill O'Reilly made news when the discussion degenerated into a shouting match between the two. Franken accused O'Reilly of lying, while O'Reilly told Franken to shut up.

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Reading Not Teens First Choice, By Far

In a recent study, Harris Interactive and Teenage Research Unlimited surveyed 2,618 people between the ages of 13 and 24 and found that respondents spend twice as much time per week watching TV as reading books or magazines for pleasure, as reported by Emarketer.

The survey, conducted in the month of June, showed that the time spent with various media among teenagers and young adults was: 16.7 hours per week online (excluding e-mail); 13.6 hours per week watching television; 12.0 hours per week listening to the radio; 7.7 hours per week talking on the phone; and 6.0 hours per week reading books and magazines (not scholastic).