Cite as: 504 U. S. 298 (1992)
Opinion of White, J.
ence" adequate to justify imposing responsibilities for use tax collection. And given the estimated loss in revenue to States of more than $3.2 billion this year alone, see Brief for Respondent 9, it is a sure bet that the vagaries of "physical presence" will be tested to their fullest in our courts.
The majority next explains that its "bright-line" rule encourages "settled expectations" and business investment. Ante, at 316. Though legal certainty promotes business confidence, the mail-order business has grown exponentially despite the long line of our post-Bellas Hess precedents that signaled the demise of the physical-presence requirement. Moreover, the Court's seeming but inadequate justification of encouraging settled expectations in fact connotes a substantive economic decision to favor out-of-state direct marketers to the detriment of other retailers. By justifying the Bellas Hess rule in terms of "the mail-order industry's dramatic growth over the last quarter century," ante, at 316, the Court is effectively imposing its own economic preferences in deciding this case. The Court's invitation to Congress to legislate in this area signals that its preferences are not immutable, but its approach is different from past instances in which we have deferred to state legislatures when they enacted tax obligations on the States' shares of interstate commerce. See, e. g., Goldberg v. Sweet, 488 U. S. 252 (1989); Commonwealth Edison Co. v. Montana, 453 U. S. 609 (1981).
Finally, the Court accords far greater weight to stare decisis than was given to that principle in Complete Auto itself. As that case demonstrates, we have not been averse to overruling our precedents under the Commerce Clause when they have become anachronistic in light of later decisions. See Complete Auto, 430 U. S., at 288-289. One typically invoked rationale for stare decisis—an unwillingness to upset settled expectations—is particularly weak in this case. It is unreasonable for companies such as Quill to invoke a "settled expectation" in conducting affairs without being taxed. Neither Quill nor any of its amici point to any investment deci-
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