This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Gov. Gary Herbert and his cronies in Utah's Senate are hell-bent on using affiliate marketers and bloggers as pawns to force Congress to act on taxing Internet sales.
At the Utah Taxpayers Association conference last week, Herbert strongly declared the need for Utah to pass a remote sales tax law. Deemed unconstitutional in other states, guaranteed not to increase sales tax revenue and putting 10,000 out of jobs, these laws are a lose/lose for Utah.
But for many of Utah's political leaders, jobs, the local economy, and even the Constitution itself are mere nuisances that can be swept away in order to get their hands on sales tax revenue owed to the state.
When asked directly about jobs being lost, they point their fingers at online companies that are following the federal ruling on remote sales tax. "It's their fault! They don't need to terminate their affiliate programs."
They are right. These out-of-state, nationwide companies are not forced to cancel their programs, but unlike the governor and the Utah's state senators, they believe they are bound to follow the federal guidelines on remote sales tax, even when they don't like it.
Natalie Martins
Herriman