My guess would be that the "income" from affiliates is immaterial, but the states have a different problem: They do apply the tax to other companies with a "pre

My guess would be that the "income" from affiliates is immaterial, but the states have a different problem: They do apply the tax to other companies with a "presence" in the state, and if they didn't attempt to collect from Amazon, they would face a challenge from companies that maintain a less tenuous presence in the state such as physical stores. INAL, but if CT didn't try to collect the tax from Amazon, I would expect Barnes and Noble to argue that bn.com sales should be tax exempt even though they have a brick and mortar store in Glastonbury, CT.