The Ken Rockwell site and I suppose other sites similar to him are according to Ken facing closure. This can't be good? What is the likely hood of this happening? I don't live in the USA so I don't know the politics involved.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/
This happened in North Carolina, too, and adversely affected me (although in a very minor way). It has to do with sales tax, which for those outside the US who may not be aware of the details, is a tax, typically in the 3-7% range, that you pay at the time of purchase for most retail goods. It is levied by the states, and the law has long held that mail order sales are not subject to sales tax unless the seller has a physical presence in the state. This, if I (in North Carolina) order a shirt from L.L. Bean (in Maine) there is no sales tax. But, if L.L. Bean had a retail outlet in the state, there would be sales tax even though I am ordering from their warehouse in Maine.
Now, many online retailers have initiated "associate" programs that work like this: you put a link to, say, Amazon's web site on your own web site. When someone clicks thru from your site to Amazon's site and makes a purchase, you get a small commission (very small!). The new law is claiming that by having a link to Amazon's site on your own site, that you are in effect a "physical presence" for Amazon in the state, and they must collect sales tax on all sales to your state (not just sales from the links). In response, the retailers often just end the associate programs in the state.
So, the put things straight, the law will not in any way "force" Ken's or anyone else's site to close. It will, however, remove the income they derived from associate programs. Personally, I think it's a stupid law that will do more harm than good, but with states desperate for sources of income it's likely to pass.
