For those of you who still believe tax rates have no impact on business behavior, and that entrepreneurs will just mutter under their breaths and pay whatever the government demands, may we suggest this nugget from today’s Under the Dome. It’s a report on one one taxpayer who won’t be participating in the General Assembly’s looting of North Carolinians: Christopher Kaminski, owner of the CouponClock.com Web portal.

From Dome: 

Large online retailers like Amazon.com and Overstock.com pay commissions to web sites that steer customers to products on Amazon or Overstock. The budget agreement
lawmakers reached Thursday would require the big .com retailers to
collect sales tax on those purchases, treating them like
brick-and-mortar stores in the state.

State law already requires North Carolinians to pay sales tax on
internet purchases, but taxpayers have to report themselves, and few do.

Amazon and Overstock have cancelled their
commission programs in North Carolina, and web site operators in the
state, like Kaminski, are calling the plan a job killer. 

Kaminski, who runs CouponClock.com,
was one of dozens of web site operators who recently wrote legislators
to oppose the tax. He said his web site is his full time job and the
loss of commissions will force him to move, depriving North Carolina of
the taxes he pays on his income, his property, his fuel and his boat.

“Instead of making money,” Kaminski wrote, “North Carolina will see
a decrease of over $30,000 in tax revenue from my family alone.”

If you get Carolina Journal (you mean you don’t?), you’d learn the inside story on this online tax in the August issue — coming to mailboxes soon! To sign up, go here.