I love shopping at Amazon. So I was thrilled when I learned about the Associates Program that allowed us bloggers to make some money from doing what we already do anyway, referring people to Amazon. This week however, I’m going through all my blogs to remove badges and links back to Amazon. Why? because I can’t be a part of the Amazon Associate’s Program anymore. They’ve closed down my account and I won’t be earning anymore money from them either.

The reason I’m no longer an Amazon Associate is because I live in North Carolina and North Carolina is about to pass a bill that will tax affiliate type companies like Amazon for doing business in the state. Amazon claims that this is unconstitutional and therefore decided to drop all their associates in NC. That means me among them.

From what I hear, NC is not the only state that has been dropped from the program because of their tax policy and with California being in the economic morass its in, I hear they are contemplating a similar tax scheme which means that the days of Amazon Associates in California may now be numbered.

I can of course understand the rationale behind these states wanting more revenue but it comes at my expense. Now I have to find another revenue stream. Got any good ideas?