If you're doing any online shopping, hold on to your wallet-- your online purchases just got more expensive here in Minnesota.

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It's all thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down back in July that says states now have the green light to force online retailers to pay sales tax. And, boy, have they. Minnesota's new law took effect Monday, October 1st.

And it means, depending upon which site you're buying something from, your purchase is now probably more expensive-- increasing anywhere from 6.875% (that's the Minnesota state sales tax rate) to 8.125% (the sales tax rate here in Rochester.) according to this Alavara tax rate calculator.

But hold on. According to this MPR story, though, you might NOT see an increase in your online price-- if you're buying from major online retailers, like Amazon. That's because they've already been collecting state sales tax from any state in which they have a physical facility-- which includes Minnesota.

But other popular online sites, like, say, Chewy.com (which we buy stuff from all the time for our dog and cats) which used to be exempt (because they didn't have a physical presence or facility here) are now required to add on that pesky Minnesota sales tax.

This Fox Business story noted that the new online sales tax isn't just happening here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, either. "On Oct. 1, online sales taxes arrived in 10 more states: Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin," the story said.

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