Today in America is dubbed Black Friday. Traditionally, the day after Thanksgiving was a day on which retailers effectively turned a profit for the year.

Over the years, Black Friday has become a larger and larger shopping event.

Increasingly, local retailers have been at a disadvantage to online retailers.

Aside from simply not having to pay for physical retail locations, online retailers have been given years of a government subsidy.

Online retailers in Mississippi have never been made to pay sales tax.

Technically, tax on online sales was still due, but the onus was on the consumer to report and pay the taxes.

To our knowledge, no one ever actually reported or paid taxes for online purchases made within the state.

All the while, companies based in Mississippi, invested in Mississippi were forced to collect and pay sales tax to the state.

The system was unfair.

Fortunately, Mississippi has finally decided to force large online retailers to start collecting the 7-percent sales tax. The move is long overdue.

The move goes into effect on Dec. 1 for online retailers that do not have a physical presence in Mississippi and have more than $250,000 in annual sales.

Hopefully, the move will level the playing field at least a bit for the business people who have invested and continue to invest into the state’s economy.

Don’t forget to shop locally and invest as much as you can in the retailers who invest in our community.