Advocacy

The U.S. Small Business Administration has launched a new web page and blog dedicated to educating small business owners about the Affordable Care Act.

On January 1, 2013, Georgia’s affiliate nexus law went into effect, requiring online retailers with affiliates in the state to collect and remit sales tax to the state. But at least one high-profile company is still ignoring Georgia’s new sales tax law: Amazon.com.

Communities as different as Las Vegas, New Mexico, and Louisville, Kentucky, have at least one thing in common: Their independent businesses recirculate a substantially greater proportion of their revenues back into the local economy than do their chain competitors.

Despite the aggressive efforts of proponents, the 112th session of Congress closed without a vote on sales tax fairness legislation. Sponsors of the Marketplace Fairness Act are now focusing on passage in the new session of Congress.

States that are planning to create their own health insurance exchanges had until Friday, December 14, to announce their plans, but thus far only 17 states have announced intentions to run their own health exchanges.

Last week, the National Governors Association wrote to the Senate Committee on Finance to urge passage of the Marketplace Fairness Act (S. 1832) this year.

On Tuesday, December 11, Gov. Deval Patrick announced that Amazon.com will collect and remit sales tax in Massachusetts starting next fall and that the online retailer will work with the state toward enactment of federal legislation to resolve the sales tax issue.

With the 112th Congress set to conclude at year’s end, an increasing number of newspaper editorial pages have been urging the passage of federal sales tax fairness legislation.

Lawmakers in Michigan and Florida recently introduced affiliate nexus bills that would require remote retailers with a presence in the state via online affiliates acting as sales agents to collect and remit sales tax.

On December 3, a majority of named class plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal to challenge a ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York that grants preliminary approval to a proposed settlement of a long-standing antitrust class action filed by merchants against Visa, MasterCard, and the largest banks.