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independent stuff 
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What GOES AWAY- when an independent bookstore goes CLOSES - our example, OUR STORE
Why Buy Local? - you may ask
IndieBound - find out more .
B&N Settlement with the State of California for $9 Million
LOCAL vs CHAIN economics
PLASTIC - how you pay - how much it costs
Amazon and TAX INSANITY
Declaration of Independents - as in independent bookstores .
California Independent Bookstores and Your Community - Independents vs Amazon.
a fine rant on reading and independent bookstores at readafuckingbook.com
links about Wal*Mart.
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WHAT GOES AWAY when your a local independent bookstore CLOSES
here are just some of the writers that we hosted in our stores, or sold books for at outside events * marks someone who was at the store more than once
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Let's talk about what independent means
When you shop at an independently-owned business, your entire community benefits:
The Economy
Spend $100 at a local store and $68 of that stays in your community.
Spend the same $100 at a national chain, and your community only sees $43.
Local businesses create higher-paying jobs for our neighbors.
More of your taxes are reinvested in your community—where they belong.
The Environment
Buying local means less packaging, less transportation, and a smaller carbon footprint.
Shopping in a local business district means less infrastructure, less maintenance, and more money to beautify your community.
The Community
Local retailers are your friends and neighbors—support them and they’ll support you.
Local businesses donate to charities at more than twice the rate of national chains.
More independents means more choice, more diversity, and a truly unique community.
Now is the time to stand up and join in supporting local businesses and celebrating independents.
a pdf file of the Andersonville Study by the Civic Economics group can be read online: www.civiceconomics.com/Andesonville/AndervilleStudy.pdf
WHY BUY LOCAL?
The American Business Alliance created a series of posters with the following reasons. They're well put and offer a bountiful feast - aka lots of food for thought. I pass their thoughts on to you.
Building Community
The casual encounters you enjoy at neighborhood businesses and the public spaces
around them build relationships and local cohesiveness. They're the ultimate social networking sites.
Economic Vitality
Each dollar you spend at a local independent business returns 3 times more money
to our local economy than one spent at a chain - a benefit we all can bank on.
Character
Why did you choose to live here?
What keeps you?
Independent businesses help give our community its one-of-a-kind personality.
A Healthier Environment
Independent, community-serving businesses are people-sized.
They consume less land, carry more locally-made products,
and locate closer to residents - creating less traffic and pollution.
Lower Taxes
Local businesses put less demand on our roads, sewers, and safety services than most chains
and generate more tax revenue per sales dollar, helping keep your taxes lower.
California Independent Bookstores and Your Community
A Partnership That Really Clicks
California Independents | amazon.com |
Number of in-store author Amount of donations to local Number of local people employed: Sales tax collected and paid to | Number of in-store author Amount of donations to local Number of local people employed: Sales tax collected and paid to |
A message from California independent booksellers
i
Declaration of IndieBound
When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for individuals to denounce the corporate bands which threaten to homogenize our cities and our souls, we must celebrate the powers that make us unique and declare the causes which compel us to remain independent.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all stores are not created equal, that some are endowed by their owners, their staff, and their communities with certain incomparable heights, that among these are Personality, Purpose and Passion. The history of the present indies is a history of experiences and excitement, which we will continue to establish as we set our sights on a more unconstrained state. To prove this, let’s bring each other along and submit our own experiences to an unchained world.
We, therefore, the Kindred Spirits of IndieBound, in the name of our convictions, do publish and declare that these united minds are, and darn well ought to be, Free Thinkers and Independent Souls. That we are linked by the passions that differentiate us. That we seek out soul mates to share our excitement. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the strength of our identities, we respectively and mutually pledge to lead the way as we all declare that we are IndieBound!
IndieBound.org community
IndieBound Bestsellers List
B&N.com Settles with California for $9 Million - 9.17.08
Barnes & Noble.com’s long running dispute with the California Board of Equalization has finally been settled with B&N.com paying $9 million to the state. The case stems from the BOE’s attempt to collect what it said were back taxes, plus penalties and interest, from B&N.com for its failure to collect California sales tax from November 1999 through March 14, 2004. The settlement ends two related complaints; one involving an assessment for $700,000 for uncollected taxes between November 15, 1999 and January 31, 2000 and a second assessment totaling $17.0 million for May 1, 2000 through March 31, 2004. The BOE was challenging an appeals court decision that overturned a previous ruling that B&N.com owed $700,000, while B&N.com had filed a complaint looking to overturn the $17 million assessment. Under the agreement, the BOE canceled both assessments and all pending litigation was dropped. The agreement was signed by both parties last month. B&N.com began collecting California sales tax on November 1, 2005.
Northern California Independent Booksellers Association executive director Hut Landon said the settlement was vindication for the independent booksellers’ fight to force online retailers to collect sales tax. Landon noted that since B&N.com began collecting sales tax “they have the same disadvantage independents do when competing against Amazon.” However, Landon added, the settlement doesn’t mean the California BOE is any closer toward moving to collect sales tax from the giant online retailer. According to Landon, the BOE does not believe Amazon’s affiliates operating in the state constitutes nexus. With that being the case, even more attention will be focused on Amazon’s lawsuit against New York State charging that New York’s Internet Sales Tax provision, which forces online retailers to collect state sales tax, is unconstitutional. That case is still in the very early stages with the next hearing set for October 2.
Declaration of Independents
As cities, towns, and neighborhoods deal with the changing landscape of their local business community, we, the independent booksellers of California, reaffirm our commitment to our communities. Independent bookstores value our place in the community, as well as our ongoing connections within it. We’d like to offer some other defining thoughts about independent bookstores.
INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLERS talk with our customers directly and enjoy fulfilling - even exceeding - their expectations, whether its recommending a great book we’ve just read, or helping you discover new or little known authors or publishers.
INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES have an onsite owner - we’re right there answering questions and making decisions, rather than relying on a corporate office, thousands of miles away.
INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLERS are leaders in the fight against censorship and other threats to freedom of expression.
INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES reflect the character of our communities. We support local causes. We participate in and fund community activities. We patronize other local businesses and keep our money in the community.
* Some thoughts brought to you by Raven's Tale and the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association.
Fewer Books, More Potholes The True Cost of AMAZON'S Tax Gimmickry
How many new teachers could you hire in California for $48,000,000 per year—1,000, maybe more? How many police officers or fire-fighters could you employ? How many books could you buy for school libraries—5,000,000? You could get at least that many.
$48,000,000 is the estimated amount of revenue that California loses each year by Amazon.com’s refusal to collect and pay sales taxes in this state. If you consider that Amazon has been thumbing its nose at California tax laws for more than a decade, the amount lost is probably well over half-a-billion dollars. You can point the finger at Amazon for this scandal—and you should—but please save a digit or two for the California Board of Equalization, which is the agency that should be enforcing the law against them. Because of the BOE’s foot-dragging, the rest of us have to cover this revenue shortfall.
Who Gets Hurt?
Lots of people get hurt as a result of the tax holiday that Amazon.com has carved out for itself.
Local communities take a big hit, because that’s where most sales tax revenue goes. When you’re talking about loss of sales tax, you’re not talking about some vague government programs—the loss of sales tax means fewer library books and more unfilled potholes. Local businesses also suffer—and when they suffer, the rest of the community may suffer because of a negative domino-effect. By not collecting sales taxes, Amazon and others like them enjoy at least a 7.5% price advantage when competing for customers. In businesses where competition is fierce and profit margins are low (bookselling, alas, comes to mind) that’s a huge advantage. If such tactics force local stores out of business, the negative domino-effect kicks in: i.e. the community loses all the tax revenue on the local sales that the now-defunct stores no longer collect.
Lower income people also get hurt—this is a sad fact that isn’t often discussed. Because sales tax is a flat rate tax, it is very regressive; lower income people pay a much higher percentage of their income in sales tax than more affluent people. Over the last several decades the sales tax rate has at least doubled, aggravating this disparity.
Amazon’s policies have made a bad situation worse: by not collecting sales tax from their on-line shoppers, they have, in effect, forced everyone else to cover the cost of local government. This hits hardest on lower income people—those who are unable to shop on-line. To be an internet shopper, you need at least four things: (1) a computer, (2) an internet connection, (3) a credit card, and (4) a fixed delivery address. There are many low income people who are without one or all of those, and they are the ones who are ultimately stuck with the bill for sales taxes.
Why Do They Do It?
Not Amazon—we know why they do it: their refusal to collect and pay sales tax gives them a huge competitive advantage.
No, the question is why do non-profit groups that support schools, libraries, parks, and other good causes become "Amazon Associates" and promote sales of Amazon.com products through their websites? Their instincts may be good—they’re trying to raise a little money through the affiliate-fees to support their cause—but the effect is totally self-destructive.
Such groups need to think about one fact: each sale that they promote through their website actually harms the cause they are working for. Why? Because the amount they receive in affiliate fees on such sales is actually less than the amount that the community loses in sales tax. Many such organizations exhort their members to make all their purchases through such Amazon links, but the members, thankfully, usually have more sense: they realize that the end result of such behavior would be to force local businesses to close, thus drying up all the sales tax revenues that are essential to their communities.
This is a maddening situation for local businesses. Not only do they collect and pay the sale taxes that their communities rely on, but most of them do hundreds of other things—some financial, some non-financial—to support local activities. In an earlier article (News & Reviews, March-April, 2006), we pointed to studies showing that for every $100 spent with a local retailer about $73 remains in the community—that’s $30 more than the $43 from a typical chain store. As great as that disparity is, it’s nothing compared to Amazon.com: every last penny of the $13 billion that they take in leaves the community.
This is an area where local groups can take a stand—they don’t have to wait for the Board of Equalization to get off of its collective posterior and enforce the law against Amazon. If such groups want to raise money through on-line affiliate programs, there are plenty of local businesses that can provide their members with a full on-line sales program that does not denude the community of its sales tax revenue (we have such a program; there are others as well).
How Does Amazon Get Away With It?
It’s simple: Amazon.com claims it is a purely out-of-state business with no local "nexus," and the Board of Equalization has been too timid to challenge them on it.
California law requires out-of-state companies to collect sales tax if they have "any representative, agent, salesperson, canvasser, independent contractor, or solicitor operating in this state" for the purpose of "selling, delivering, installing, assembling, or the taking of orders . . ." (sec. 6203; Rev & Taxation Code). It doesn’t take much for a company to fit under that law—almost any activity by any kind of agent will create "nexus." For example, an out-of-state company that solicited book sales to grade school students only through volunteer, unpaid teachers was found by the courts to have a nexus with the state. Likewise, a company that merely received requests for purchases from a small group of independent agents was ruled to have nexus. Nexus is the key: once a company has it, it is liable for sales taxes on all of its sales in the state—not just the ones involving such agents.
How does Amazon.com fit within that legal framework? It bursts the sides of the frame. It’s no exaggeration to say that Amazon.com probably has more "solicitors," "agents," and "representatives" in this state than most California-based businesses. Consider the Amazon Associates program mentioned above—there are probably well over 200,000 people and organizations actively soliciting sales for Amazon through websites, meetings, personal contacts and other activities in the state. The in-state activities of these agents are far more extensive than those of other companies that have been required to collect sales tax. In addition, Amazon continues to act from time to time as the on-line sales and distribution service for several local chain stores—you go in to see about videos that your local store has for sale, and you are likely to be directed to Amazon for the purchase. Finally, there is the Amazon Advantage program, in which private individuals arrange to sell merchandise through Amazon. Under that program, thousands of California residents each day deliver merchandise to other California residents using the Amazon system to consummate the sale. What is the difference between the purchase of, say, a power tool sold this way and one sold over the counter at your local hardware store? There is none—except the Amazon sale evades taxation.
The evidence of Amazon.com’s nexus in California is so overwhelming that it’s hard to see how anyone can ignore it. The only reed that their supporters cling to is a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Quill v. North Dakota) in which the Court said that a state could not impose sales tax liability if a company’s "only connection with customers in the [taxing] State is by common carrier or the United States mail." But the Quill case is a pre-internet decision—as far as the realities of on-line commerce are concerned, it might as well have been written in the Middle Ages. Unlike the relatively small, traditional mail-order company in that case, Amazon.com has a ubiquitous presence that has an impact on almost every aspect of modern commerce. Amazon’s reliance on the Quill case probably wouldn’t withstand the first challenge.
But first, there has to be a challenge—the Board of Equalization is the only agency that can do that. If the BOE is unwilling to force companies like Amazon to collect and pay taxes, it might as well shut down its operation: in the future there may not be any traditional retailers left to do the tax-collecting for them.
— W. Petrocelli, Book Passage Bookstore, Corte Madera, CA
Paying with Plastic? How you pay can cost a merchant BIG. Store owners always like CASH and CHECKS over any plastic card (charge, debit, or whatever) because a card always means fees are collected by a series of middlemen/handlers/services that transfer/link and charge for that sale to get all the way from you, through several services, to our bank account. We don't pay big fees when you use cash and checks.
Plastic cards have turned shopping into a series of loans with interest and fees, has given out some mileage and gift rewards, and have charged every retailer for accepting this plastic. Every time you pay with plastic ... the retailer pays extra ... and most times, you pay extra ... remember interest?! This is all for convenience. Something to think about. So, remember - If it makes no difference to you ... merchants prefer cash or check. |
Wal*Mart: Killing Local Businesses, One Main Street at a Time
Some information on Wal-Mart
Within 5 years of Wal-Mart's arrival, an average of 4 small businesses, 1 mid-sized store and 1 large store go out of business.
more @ www.missouri.edu/~baskere/papers/
Wal-Mart takes 84% of its business from existing stores.
more @ www.pbs/itvs/storewars/chat_transcript.html
For every $100 spent at Wal-Mart, local economies lose $30.50.
more @ www.newrules.org/retail/midcoaststudy.pdf
other information @ www.walmartwatch.com/battlement
here are some interesting and depressing books on Wal- Mart that I've read.
The Wal*Mart Effect by Charles Fishman
The United States of Wal*Mart by John Dicker
Wal*Mart: The Face of 21-Century Capitalism edited by Nelson Lichtenstein
The Bully of Bentonville by Anthony Bianco
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