Clark Rector Jr., Executive Vice President–Government Affairs
Members of Congress Defend Advertising
Representatives Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., and nearly 100 of their Congressional colleagues have written to House leadership defending the current tax treatment of advertising. The letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. points out the detrimental effect that a change to the tax treatment of advertising would have. It cites the IHS Global Insight economic study that shows 21.7 million U.S. jobs and $5.8 trillion in U.S. sales are supported by advertising. Many members of local AAF advertising federations contacted their Representatives and urged them to sign on to the letter.
North Carolina Senate Passes Advertising Tax
The North Carolina Senate has passed budget legislation that would extend the state’s sales tax to many services, including advertising services. The service tax changes were among many made to the budget previously passed by the state House of Representatives. Nearly all of the changes were made with no legislative hearings and very little debate. The revised budget has already been overwhelmingly rejected by the House. Knowledgeable observers in the state anticipate that negotiations between the two chambers are likely to be lengthy with no quick resolution. Representatives of AAF and AAF’s North Carolina advertising federations have already met with other industry representatives in the state to form a coalition and develop strategy to insure the tax on advertising is not enacted.
Illinois Data Breach Bill Sent to Governor
The Illinois General Assembly has passed and sent to Governor Bruce Rauner SB 1883, the well-intentioned, but seriously flawed piece of legislation intended to protect consumer data and require reports of data breaches that pose a threat of identity theft or economic harm.
SB 1883 would create an overly-broad definition of personal information, including “consumer marketing information;” increase the regulatory burden on businesses; and require over-notification of data breaches, without a counterbalancing benefit to Illinois residents. The bill would require businesses send breach notices to Illinois consumers even when there is no risk of identity theft or economic harm. In addition, many provisions of the bill go beyond or conflict with requirements of other states, putting an undue burden on companies seeking to do business in Illinois.
AAF, the Chicago Advertising Federation and AAF-Northern Illinois have joined with many other organizations to send a letter to Governor Rauner requesting an “amendatory veto.” If accepted, this would allow the data breach measure to become law, but fix the provisions most harmful to the advertising and marketing industry.
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