Amazon Georgia Affiliates Terminated?

The difference in Georgia is that Amazon agreed to collect sales tax. It's the states where the nexus law is passed and Amazon does not agree to collect the sales tax where affiliates are most at risk.

"Nexus" is the word used to describe a company's physical presence in a state. Internet-only retailers, like Amazon, rely on an old federal law that says a company without nexus (physical presence in a state) does not have to collect sales tax.

Consumers are supposed to self-report the sales tax on internet purchases to their state but, generally, don't.

States want that tax money so they attempt to redefine nexus for their state by counting affiliates in the definition of nexus (among other things) in order to force internet companies like Amazon to collect the sales tax for them.

These state nexus laws then mean Amazon needs to collect sales tax if they have affiliates in the state. Rather than deal with the collection of sales tax Amazon closes the affiliate program, thereby removing their nexus to that state under the state's new nexus law.

In some states Amazon chooses a different response. They may agree to collect sales tax for a variety of reasons. If they do that, they don't need to close the affiliate program. There are several states with such arrangements including Georgia, New York, and Arizona (I believe a total of 19 such states at the moment).