CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Another perk of shopping online is avoiding sales tax, but those days could be numbered after a major decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.
Action 9 followed the developments and explained how this can impact your wallet.
Here in the Carolinas, if you shop online neither state taxes your purchases, but that could change.
Typically websites like Amazon.com and Overstock.com only pay sales tax in states where they have a store or any other physical presence.
On Monday, those two companies asked the Supreme Court to let them out of that, but the court refused to even consider it.
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About 20 states tax online purchases and 30 do not including the Carolinas.
At least one group said those states missed out on making about $23 billion last year.
So now, those states may start collecting sales tax on website purchases.
North Carolina said about a quarter of its revenue comes from sales tax. In South Carolina more than a third comes from sales tax.
Researchers said the Palmetto State has lost nearly $570 million during the last five years.
The U.S. Senate has already passed a bill paving the way for states to start collecting sales tax on website purchases.
The House has not voted.
Read our story on how drone could deliver Amazon products to your home as early as 2015, here.
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