Advocacy

The troubling effects of falling tax revenues continue to multiply for elected officials facing rapidly growing deficits. Forty-one states collected less revenue in fiscal 2002 than they had planned for in their budgets. Nationwide, sales tax collections were 3.2 percent lower than originally budgeted, personal income tax collections missed states' targets by 12.8 percent, and corporate income taxes were 21.5 percent lower than projected.

The American Booksellers Association has once again called on the U.S. governors in the 45 states that collect sales tax to fully enforce existing regulations by ensuring that retailers with a physical presence in their state collect sales tax on online sales.

Representatives from 31 states and the District of Columbia approved, on November 12, a proposal to simplify and to modernize sales and use tax administration. The states are part of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP), a national initiative seeking to improve sales and use tax collection, especially for online commerce. The plan incorporates uniform definitions within states' and local governments' tax bases, simplified audit and administrative procedures, and improved software to help reduce the burden of tax collection.

The Citywide Book Club trend, which began in Seattle six years go, shows no sign of slowing down. When Bookselling This Week first created its Citywide Book Club list in March 2002, there were 45 known community-reading initiatives. Seven months later, the number has more than doubled, and now lists 94 cities, counties, or states that have organized (or are organizing) events that encourage communities to read the same book at the same time.

ABA's Prescription for Reading is in full swing, and booksellers who spoke to BTW reported that they are having great success with this year's program. "We started out with 200 books [for the program]," said Lee Kimball, manager of The Library Shop in Richmond, Virginia. "We ended up having to order another 1,000 more."

On Thursday, September 12, the California Board of Equalization (BOE) issued a Memorandum Opinion stating that Barnesandnoble.com was obligated to pay California back use taxes for a period of four-plus months -- from November 15, 1999, to March 31, 2000. BOE ruled that, because the bricks-and-mortar Barnes & Noble stores were offering customers coupons that discounted purchases made at its online store, Barnesandnoble.com had established a physical presence, or nexus, in the state of California.

Throughout the U.S. this month and next, the importance of reading is taking center stage as 22 State Centers for the Book help to promote the upcoming National Book Festival, to be held in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, October 12, 2002. In Arkansas and Minnesota, state Centers for the Book are doing this with help from independent booksellers.

ABA has announced that the successful Prescription for Reading program will be expanding to include a number of other organizations providing services for children. These include daycare centers, preschools, nursery schools, independent pharmacies, local Y's, day camps, senior citizen centers, or any organization that serves parents or grandparents of young children.

On July 25, First Lady Laura Bush and Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced that the second National Book Festival would be held in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, October 12, 2002. "America was transformed three days after the first National Book Festival was held September 8, 2001," Mrs. Bush said in a statement. "But one thing that did not change was our love of spending time with friends and family -- especially our children.

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Established in 1966, Washington, D.C.-based Reading Is Fundamental is the nation’s oldest and largest children’s literacy organization. In May, it capped its 35th anniversary with a "National Reading Celebration," which featured special events at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington during RIF’s annual Reading Is Fun Week, which ran from May 5-12.

Big crowds were moving through the trade show floor all day Saturday collecting galleys, autographs, and totebags.

Booksellers around the country have more reasons than ever to sign on to the 2002 Prescription for Reading marketing program. This year, Prescription for Reading is sponsored by a partnership of ABA, Book Sense, Chronicle Books, Baker & Taylor, and the Pizza Hut® BOOK IT!® Program. All of these partners have a strong interest in improving literacy and the general well-being of children.

Bookselling This Week is pleased to report that, after our Citywide Book Club list went online March 13, we received many e-mails from both libraries and booksellers detailing their own particular community book-reading efforts. Additionally, the Library of Congress (LOC), www.loc.gov/cfbook/, now has a listing of Citywide Book Clubs, and some community efforts were added or updated using information from LOC’s Web site. The result has seen the list expand from 45 different community-reading initiatives to 65.

It’s doubtful that either Nancy Pearl, executive director of the Washington Center for the Book at the Seattle Public Library (WCB), or Chris Higashi, associate director for WCB, realized just how influential an idea they had conceived when they launched "If All of Seattle Reads the Same Book" in 1996. Today, over 50 cities, counties, or states have begun programs that encourage communities to read the same book at the same time and then to discuss it in numerous venues.