My friend Geno Prussakov posted on his blog Monday about the paltry number of attendees at the Affiliate Summit session on the Advertising Tax.

One thing that I felt sorry to witness was the fact that out of the 2,500 Affiliate Summit’s attendees only 29 came to the “Advertising Tax: What Happened and What’s Next” session. Taking into consideration that 7 of them left the room when the Q&A session started, the total number of attentive listeners equaled less than 1% of the conference’s attendees. Karen Garcia has mentioned to me that similar attendance numbers were registered on the Day 1 when an “Advertising Tax Impact, Accomplishments and the Future” panel was held.

Why is it that so few affiliates seem to care about the advertising tax?  North Carolina affiliates sure seem to care, at least based on the affiliate forums and efforts put forth over the past few months there.  So do California affiliates, Rhode Island affiliates, Hawaii affiliates, and other states that have been effected recently by the advertising tax.  In California, the outcry from affiliates was a big reason that Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the Advertising Tax.

I understand that it is a boring issue.  Taxes are never fun. But this greatly impacts you if you live in the United States.  So many states are facing record budget deficits this year and probably will next year as well.  They are going to be looking for any and every way to collect more revenue. (Read: new taxes).

The issue is causing families to move to avoid the tax, which will significantly reduce their income.  It is causing programs to shut down their affiliate programs in certain states, another reason for many families moving.  It is causing some affiliates to seek alternative employment and newbies to never get started.

We will continue to be an advocate against this tax, publicly in any way that we can be involved.  I hope you will join the effort as well!

What can you do?  Read this post about actions that YOU can take.