The recent controversy over Amazon and sales tax in Tennessee has spawned national legislation led by Tennessee Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker.
The bill working its way through Congress is getting thumbs up on both sides of the aisle, as well as from local business owners.
"This is a matter of people not paying taxes they owe," Alexander says.
Alexander and Governor Bill Haslem held a statewide conference call with local retailers to push support for the Marketplace Fairness Act. The Bill would allow states to collect sales tax from online purchases.
"Customers who purchase things on the internet, if they know they don't have to pay the sales tax at that time, they view that as a discount. It lowers the price in their mind."
Local small business owners like Terri Holley say the inequity is more than just dollars and cents.
"I do have women that come into my store where my staff and I spent time working with those women, helping them decide style, size, price, only to have them walk out and go make the purchase on an internet site."
"People who think it's just books, or its just this or its just that are kidding themselves. It's just too big a piece of our economy now to treat like we did 20 years ago," says Tennessee Governor Bill Haslem, who also supports the measure.
Alexander, along with Senator Bob Corker are two of ten Senators pushing the bi-partisan effort, which also has the support of the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce.
"We are fully supportive of the bill. Our board voted unanimously to support the market place fairness act so we will continue to talk to our elected representatives about passing this sooner rather than later," says VP of Public Strategies for the Chamber, Rob Bradham.
The final result could mean more money in in the pockets of local business as well as the coffers of state government.
"It's probably two or three hundred million dollars a year in sales tax that is owed that is not being paid. I think for Tennessee that's about 2 percent tax on every grocery item bought in the state," says Haslem.
"We will have those consumers who will continue to support our business because they understand the importance of local business and what that does for our community," says Holley.
Some internet companies are lobbying against the bill, saying it places an unfair burden on online retailers.
