Online Shoppers Are About to Be Forced to Pay Higher Sales Tax—Here's Why

As if you didn't already spend enough money online shopping, the Supreme Court just made a ruling that could make your purchases even more expensive. As CNN reports, the new decision means that states can force online retailers to collect sales taxes, even if they don't have a brick-and-mortar store in the state. Previously, states could only secure sales taxes from companies that had a physical store in the state. Per CNN, the court decided that the old law "effectively incentivized businesses to avoid physical presence." Plus, the old law meant that states were missing out on much of that lucrative revenue from your online shopping habit.
"The internet's prevalence and power have changed the dynamics of the national economy," Justice Anthony Kennedy stated in the ruling, per CNN. "The expansion of e-commerce has also increased the revenue shortfall faced by states seeking to collect their sales and use taxes." Stay tuned as we learn more about the effects of the ruling—and in the meantime, it never hurts to save money with affordable retailers like some of our favorites below.
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Erin got her start as a Who What Wear intern in 2011—back when the site only published a single story per day. (We have since increased that number twentyfold.) She graduated magna cum laude from USC and lives in Los Angeles. In college, she also interned at Refinery29, where she was promoted to editorial assistant and then assistant editor. After nearly three years at R29, she came back to WWW in 2015, where she is now the Associate Director of Fashion News. From the Oscars to the Met Gala, she leads the site's entire red carpet coverage strategy. She specializes in celebrity and fashion news but also enjoys writing travel features and runway reports. She frequently contributes to WWW's social accounts and has a sizable following on her personal TikTok.