Wind Advisory
from SAT 12:00 PM MST until SAT 10:00 PM MST, Western Pima County including Ajo/Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Tohono O'odham Nation including Sells, Upper Santa Cruz River and Altar Valleys including Nogales, Tucson Metro Area including Tucson/Green Valley/Marana/Vail, South Central Pinal County including Eloy/Picacho Peak State Park, Southeast Pinal County including Kearny/Mammoth/Oracle, Upper San Pedro River Valley including Sierra Vista/Benson, Eastern Cochise County below 5000 ft including Douglas/Wilcox, Upper Gila River and Aravaipa Valleys including Clifton/Safford, White Mountains of Graham and Greenlee Counties including Hannagan Meadow, Galiuro and Pinaleno Mountains including Mount Graham, Chiricahua Mountains including Chiricahua National Monument, Dragoon/Mule/Huachuca and Santa Rita Mountains including Bisbee/Canelo Hills/Madera Canyon, Santa Catalina and Rincon Mountains including Mount Lemmon/Summerhaven, Baboquivari Mountains including Kitt Peak, Kofa, Central La Paz, Aguila Valley, Southeast Yuma County, Gila River Valley, Northwest Valley, Tonopah Desert, Gila Bend, Buckeye/Avondale, Cave Creek/New River, Deer Valley, Central Phoenix, North Phoenix/Glendale, New River Mesa, Scottsdale/Paradise Valley, Rio Verde/Salt River, East Valley, Fountain Hills/East Mesa, South Mountain/Ahwatukee, Southeast Valley/Queen Creek, Superior, Northwest Pinal County, West Pinal County, Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, Tonto Basin, Mazatzal Mountains, Pinal/Superstition Mountains, Sonoran Desert Natl Monument, San Carlos, Dripping Springs, Globe/Miami, Southeast Gila County

Supreme Court ruling on online state sales tax won't see immediate impacts in Arizona

A Supreme Court ruling is making shopping on the internet more expensive. It has to do with the way states collect taxes from internet sales.

Fox 10's Matt Galka breaks it down by simplifying the complex issue. Matt has a Syracuse gnome that he bought online, and since the store has no physical presence in Arizona, he didn't have to pay sales tax.

This ruling is going to change that, but it's going to take time.

Online shopping sales have grown steadily for the past decade, but when it comes to sales tax, things get tricky.

Buyers have to pay sales tax if they are shopping from a big box store online because many have stores in every state. But state's were missing out on big bucks if there was no physical store.

A 5 to 4 ruling from the Supreme Court will change that, but Kevin McCarthy with the Arizona Tax Research Association says the impact won't immediately be felt in Arizona.

"We are a state, we're most famous for having one of the most complicated and quite frankly, screwed up sales tax systems in the United States," McCarthy said.

Estimates have states missing out on $8 to $13 billion just last year.

"We're talking not millions, we're talking tens of millions of potential revenue. We think that incentive, that carrot if you will, is strong enough to clean up our state and local sales tax codes," McCarthy said.

And for local brick and mortar stores, the ruling represents a level playing field.

"We've seen a lot of show-rooming where people will go into a local brick and mortar store, try out a product and go to an online retailer and purchase it, so we've seen businesses close," said Thomas Barr with Local First Arizona.

We're likely to see this issue addressed legislatively next session.

This also may impact eBay sellers. If you like to sell stuff on the auction website, you should be exempt from this unless you're making six figures from sales.