United States. In the future, we expect to increase direct purchases from suppliers outside the United States, which may expose us to additional risks. The violation, or perception of any violation, of any labor, immigration, product safety, or other laws by any of our suppliers, their U.S. and non-U.S. manufacturers, or our direct suppliers, such as use of forced or child labor, or the divergence of the labor practices followed by any of our suppliers or these manufacturers from those generally accepted in the United States, could damage our brand image or subject us to boycotts by our customers or activist groups which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Any event causing a sudden disruption of manufacturing or imports, including the imposition of additional import restrictions, could interrupt, or otherwise disrupt the shipment of finished products to us by our suppliers. Political and financial instability outside the United States, strikes, adverse weather conditions or natural disasters that may occur or acts of war or terrorism in the United States or worldwide, may affect the production, shipment or receipt of merchandise. These factors, which are beyond our control, may require us to modify our current business practices or incur increased costs and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Changes in laws, including employment laws and laws related to our merchandise, could make conducting our business more expensive or otherwise cause us to change the way we do business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We are subject to numerous regulations, including labor and employment, truth-in-advertising, California’s Proposition 65 and other environmental laws and regulations, customer protection and zoning and occupancy laws and ordinances that regulate retailers generally or govern the promotion and sale of merchandise and the operation of warehouse facilities. If these regulations were to change or were violated by our management, employees, or suppliers, the costs of certain goods could increase, or we could experience delays in shipments of our goods, be subject to fines or penalties or suffer reputational harm, which could reduce demand for our merchandise and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. In addition to increased regulatory compliance requirements, changes in laws could make the ordinary conduct of our business more expensive or require us to change the way we do business.
Laws related to employee benefits and treatment of employees, including laws related to limitations on employee hours, immigration laws, child labor laws, supervisory status, leaves of absence, wages, mandated health benefits or overtime pay, could also increase compensation and benefits costs. Moreover, changes in product safety or other customer protection laws, could lead to increased costs to us for some merchandise, or additional labor costs associated with readying merchandise for sale. It is often difficult for us to plan and prepare for potential changes to applicable laws, and future actions or increased costs related to these changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Amendments to existing tax laws, rules or regulations or enactment of new unfavorable tax laws, rules or regulations could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Many of the underlying laws, rules or regulations imposing taxes and other obligations were established before the growth of the internet and e-commerce. Tax authorities in non-U.S. jurisdictions and at the U.S. federal, state and local levels are currently reviewing the appropriate treatment of companies engaged in internet commerce and considering changes to existing tax or other laws that could regulate our transmissions and/or levy sales, income, consumption, use or other taxes relating to our activities, and/or impose obligations on us to collect such taxes. For example, many U.S. states have enacted or are enacting new sales tax laws following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, as discussed below under “—The application of indirect taxes could adversely affect our business and results of operations.” We cannot predict the effect of current attempts to impose taxes on commerce over the internet. If such tax or other laws, rules or regulations were amended, or if new unfavorable laws, rules or regulations were enacted, the results could increase our tax payments or other obligations, prospectively or retrospectively, subject us to interest and penalties, decrease the demand for our services if we pass on such costs to the consumer, result in increased costs to update or expand our technical or administrative infrastructure or effectively limit the scope of our business activities if we decided not to conduct business in particular jurisdictions. As a result, these changes may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
In addition, various governments and intergovernmental organizations could introduce proposals for tax legislation, or adopt tax laws, that may have a significant adverse effect on our worldwide effective tax rate, or increase our tax liabilities, the carrying value of deferred tax assets, or our deferred tax liabilities. For example, the U.S. federal government could enact significant changes to the