Really simple. Internet merchants have to collect sales tax on residents of any state where they have a physical presence. Amazon has been careful to limit the

Really simple. Internet merchants have to collect sales tax on residents of any state where they have a physical presence. Amazon has been careful to limit their physical presence to Washington so that their sales are tax free in the 49 other states. North Carolina doesn't like all the lost sales tax revenues caused by people buying things from Amazon. So they changed the law so that having an AFFILIATE in North Carolina is the same as having a physical presence in North Carolina. Amazon retaliated by eliminating all North Carolina affiliates. (Many of whom will probably just change the address on their account. Since Amazon pays by direct deposit, this won't matter). It's the only way Amazon can keep from having to charge sales tax to ALL North Carolina residents which would make them more expensive.