Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states can now collect sales tax from online retailers. New estimates show that the move could be a major boon to the economies of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles.
Robert Dauffenbach, director of the Center for Economic and Management Research at the University of Oklahoma, told The Oklahoman that he believes the additional sales tax income could amount to over a quarter of a billion dollars a year for the Sooner State.
Meanwhile, Texas is one of a few states with no income tax, meaning the Lone Star State relies heavily on sales taxes to fund itself. And Texas loses well over a billion dollars a year in uncollected sales tax from online retailers that don't have a physical presence in the state.
With this new Supreme Court ruling, Texas will likely bring in at least enough to fund the $800 million the state will spend securing its southern border this year and next.
