Amazon cuts off affiliates in North Carolina

Amazon.com cut ties with business affiliates in North Carolina after the state drafted legislation that would force the company to collect sales tax.

The Seattle-based Internet retailer sent a notice to affiliates Thursday night, said Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith. If enacted, the law could take effect as soon as today, she said.

Amazon also is fighting tax proposals in at least five other states, including California and Hawaii, calling the efforts unconstitutional. The company has sent letters to government leaders in those two states, though Amazon hasn't moved to cut off affiliates, Smith said. The North Carolina legislation posed an immediate threat, she said.

"This is not a decision we took lightly," Smith said. "Given the way the legislation was drafted, we felt we had no choice."

The company's affiliates program, called Amazon Associates, started in 1996. It lets Web-site owners and bloggers make money by posting ads for Amazon products. If someone clicks through and buys something at Amazon's main store or its Endless.com site, the affiliate gets a referral fee of as much as 15 percent.

"We will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com after June 26," the company told North Carolina affiliates in its notice. "We were forced to take this unfortunate action in anticipation of actual enactment because of uncertainties surrounding the legislation's effective date."

The company said it's not opposed to a sales tax that is the same across every state. Amazon .com doesn't want individual states to craft rules, creating a patchwork of different standards, Smith said.

Amazon stock climbed $1.68, or 2 percent, to close at $83.88 Friday.