NC Tea Party Summit

May 12th, 2010 by Jason Categories: Hot Topics One Response

In North Carolina limited government and conservative/libertarian ideas do not have any chance to be heard in the General Assembly. We are the highest taxed state in our region. Our schools are failing. We can not get a vote to stop forced annexation, stop eminent domain abuse, limit spending, add more charter schools, reduce taxes, and much more. This summit hopes to help channel the tea party energy towards some of these issues, while continuing to grow the movement even stronger.

Click here for details.

This is why conservatives lose – We Don’t Show Up

May 4th, 2010 by Jason Categories: Hot Topics One Response

RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina voters angry with Congress have only been trickling to the polls for Tuesday’s primary that could alter the state’s leadership on Capitol Hill.

Some 170,000 people cast ballots in early voting, roughly one-third the number that appeared during the one-stop period for the presidential primary two years ago. There’s been no sign of a tea party surge, as Republicans have comprised just 33 percent of voters so far – similar to last election and to the statewide breakdown of party registration.

“It’s disappointing that more people are not tuning into the importance of the primary election,” said Bob Hall, executive director of elections watchdog Democracy North Carolina. “It’s the place where candidates are filtered out. The vote actually has tremendous weight.”

At the top of the ballot, the election will weed out a large group of Democrats seeking to challenge Republican Sen. Richard Burr, whose approval numbers have sagged along with the rest of Congress. Burr himself faces GOP challengers who question whether he can get re-elected, though the incumbent is widely seen as a favorite and plans to spend Election Day in Washington..

There are also several key House primaries: Republican Rep. Howard Coble, who hasn’t seen a primary challenger in a quarter century, faces several looking to represent his district in central North Carolina. Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell, who won a seat just two years ago to represent southern North Carolina, faces a challenge from one of his former campaign volunteers. Meanwhile, several Republicans have been competing in a costly race to challenge Kissell in the state’s most competitive district.

Scores of other primaries across North Carolina ballots will help select state lawmakers, judges and prosecutors.

North Carolinians have expressed discontent with elected officials and particularly Congress; an Elon University poll released two weeks ago showed 69 percent of state adults said they disapproved of the way Congress was doing its job. That has yet to translate into mobilization at the ballot box, however.

The 170,000 voters who went to one-stop voting sites was higher than the 70,000 who turned out during the primary four years ago, but that election didn’t have any major statewide decisions such as this year’s U.S. Senate race. The election two years ago included both a presidential and Senate race and drew some 480,000 voters to one-stop sites before Election Day.

Gary Bartlett, the executive director of the State Board of Elections, said officials were hoping to see more early voters.

“I am hoping for a large turnout (Tuesday),” he said. “However, all the signs during my tenure lead me to believe it will not be a large turnout. I don’t think we’ll reach 20 percent.”

Non-presidential primaries typically have voter turnouts around 20 percent.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Ken Lewis and Cal Cunningham both said Monday that they deliberately spent the final days focusing on personal engagement with the public. Lewis was knocking on doors while Cunningham was meeting with voters as part of a jobs tour.

“As a citizen, I certainly liked to have seen more people come out and vote,” Lewis said. Cunningham hoped for sunshine Tuesday to encourage good participation.

The three leading candidates in that race – Lewis, Cunningham and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall – scheduled visits Monday to their campaign phone banks in a sign that the low early-voting turnout means getting their supporters to the polls Tuesday is an even greater portion of the formula for a primary victory or entering a runoff.

A candidate must win more than 40 percent of the vote to avoid a two-person runoff.

Bartlett said elections investigators were looking into accusations of vote buying in Bladen County and an allegation that a candidate in eastern North Carolina provided something of value for a vote. He said it was common to hear accusations of impropriety shortly before Election Day.

NC Legislature just plain Sucks, and this proves it.

April 28th, 2010 by Jason Categories: Hot Topics No Responses

North Carolina has one of the 15 worst tax environments for small businesses in the country and the worst in the South, the Washington, D.C.-based Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council says in a report released Tuesday.

The Business Tax Index 2010 lumps North Carolina in with the likes of New York, California, New Jersey and Massachusetts due to the Tar Heel State’s relatively high tax rates on personal income and corporate profits. North Carolina also was penalized for having unemployment and gasoline taxes higher than most states. If not for the 12th lowest property tax rate as a percentage of household income in the United States, North Carolina would have ranked even lower.

North Carolina’s neighbors fared much better in the rankings, which assesses 16 different tax measures and combines those into one tax score that allows the 50 states and District of Columbia to be compared. South Carolina placed 12th in the rankings with a score of 29.646. Tennessee followed in the 13th spot with a score of 30.858, and Virginia wasn’t far behind, landing at No. 15 with a score of 32.393.

In comparison, North Carolina’s score was 42.473, the 15th highest on the list.

The Business Tax Index found the 10 best state tax systems to be 1) South Dakota, 2) Texas, 3) Nevada, 4) Wyoming, 5) Washington, 6) Florida, 7) Alabama, 8) Alaska, 9) Ohio, and 10) Colorado.

The 10 worst state tax systems were determined to be: 42) Massachusetts, 43) Oregon, 44) Vermont, 45) Iowa, 46) Maine, 47) New York, 48) California, 49) Minnesota, 50) New Jersey, and 51) the District of Columbia.

“We applaud the political leaders of states who have refrained from raising taxes on the nation’s job creators,” said SBE Council President and CEO Karen Kerrigan. “Sales have been down and business owners continue to struggle with rising costs such as health care coverage. States that have kept taxes low will reap rewards as their businesses recover more quickly and shore-up durability for the long term. Low-tax states will become even more competitive for investment and business relocation.”

The Letter from Amazon to its NC Customers

April 20th, 2010 by Jason Categories: Hot Topics No Responses

This is about the Affiliate Program that Amazon had to stop because of the scumbags in Raleigh. This takes money out of the pockets of those that are making money using affiliate programs. Our state leaders have got to be run off.

Here it is…

We regret to inform you that the North Carolina state legislature (the General Assembly) appears ready to enact an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with North Carolina-based Associates. You are receiving this e-mail because our records indicate that you are an Amazon Associate and resident of North Carolina.
Please note that this is not an immediate termination notice and you are still a valued participant in the Associates Program. All referral fees earned on qualified traffic will continue to be paid as planned.
But because the new law is drafted to go into effect once enacted – which could happen in the next two weeks – we will have to terminate the participation of all North Carolina residents in the Amazon Associates program on or before that same day. After the termination day, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com nor will we accept new applications for the Associates program from North Carolina residents.
The unfortunate consequences of this legislation on North Carolina residents like you were explained in detail to key senators and representatives in Raleigh, including the leadership of the Senate, House, and both chambers’ finance committees. Other states, including Maryland, Minnesota, and Tennessee, considered nearly identical schemes, but rejected these proposals largely because of the adverse impact on their states’ residents.
The North Carolina General Assembly’s website is http://www.ncleg.net/, and additional information may be obtained from the Performance Marketing Alliance at http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/.
We thank you for being part of the Amazon Associates program, and we will apprise you of the General Assembly’s action on this matter.
Sincerely,
Amazon.com

Amazon.com sues North Carolina over customer-data demand

April 20th, 2010 by Jason Categories: Hot Topics One Response

Amazon.com has filed a lawsuit against the North Carolina Department of Revenue, seeking to block the state’s demand for the “name and address of virtually every North Carolina resident who has purchased anything from Amazon since 2003, along with records of what each customer purchased and how much they paid.”

The online retail giant says disclosure of the data would “invade the privacy and violate the First Amendment rights of Amazon and its customers on a massive scale.”

The North Carolina Department of Revenue says it’s still studying the Amazon complaint.

“We learned of the lawsuit just late yesterday afternoon. The North Carolina Department of Revenue received the official legal documentation this morning,” said agency spokeswoman Beth Stevenson. “We are currently reviewing that information and looking into what the complaint actually involves. It would be premature for us to comment on any specifics until we have proper time to review the documents.”

The lawsuit appears to be part of a broader struggle between Amazon and North Carolina over sales tax collection. North Carolina sought unsuccessfully to get Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) to collect sales tax on Web purchases in the state. Now the state is auditing Amazon’s compliance with state sales and use tax laws.

Here’s a copy of the Amazon lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Seattle (pdf, 14 pages).

According to Amazon’s complaint, North Carolina in December requested information on sales to customers in the state between Aug. 1, 2003, and Feb. 28, 2010, as part of the audit process. The company said it provided North Carolina with data to meet that request, including product codes for each item purchased. But Amazon said it did not hand over the “name, address, phone number, e-mail address or other personally identifiable information of any customer.”

Amazon said it had “fully cooperated” with North Carolina, adding:

“But the DOR has no business seeking to uncover the identity of Amazon’s customers who purchased expressive content, which makes up the majority of the nearly 50 million products sold to North Carolina residents during the audit period, let alone associating customers’ names and addresses with the specific books, music, and video content that they have purchased during the past seven years.”

Amazon objects to disclosing “sensitive, personal, controversial or unpopular content” ordered by North Carolina customers, including such works as “Lolita,” “Brokeback Mountain,” and rapper Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP.”

Amazon says North Carolina revenue agents visited its Seattle offices in mid-March.

North Carolina last year was one of several states that sought to force Amazon to collect sales tax based on its use of affiliate Web sites. The idea was that these affiliates, which link to Amazon products, give Amazon a physical “nexus” in the state that requires the company to collect sales tax just like a brick-and-mortar retailer. Amazon, in response, closed its affiliate program in North Carolina, ending the basis for any sales tax collection.

“The best-case scenario for customers would be where the North Carolina Department of Revenue withdraws their demand because they recognize that it violates the privacy rights of North Carolina residents,” said company spokeswoman Mary Osako.