David French, the National Retail Federation's (NRF) senior vice president for government relations, has issued a statement on the introduction of the Marketplace Fairness Act.

"We welcome this effort to level the sales tax playing field between Main Street merchants and online retailers. For far too long, brick-and-mortar retailers have faced a competitive disadvantage solely because of Congress’ inability to resolve the online sales tax disparity.

“Retailers should be allowed to compete for customers and sales on price, service and selection and not forced to compete on whether or not they collect state and local sales tax.

“The introduction of this legislation is a welcome sign that lawmakers may finally act on this retail industry priority, and builds upon ongoing activity in the House and Senate. It also comes on the heels of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s admission last week that the Court got it wrong on sales tax collection two decades ago and should revisit its decision.

“It is Congress’ responsibility to lay out a legislative framework on online sales tax collection and we hope that the introduction of this bill will spur congressional action to remedy this problem this year.”

A similar version of the Marketplace Fairness Act passed the U.S. Senate in 2013 .

For more information, visit NRF.com.