WFCA Members Mobilize to Push Marketplace Fairness Act Through U.S. Senate

Scott Humphrey, Chief Executive Officer, World Floor Covering Association, announced that the U.S. Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act late in the afternoon on Monday, May 6, 2013. WFCA members reached out to their respective Senators for weeks prior to passage, reminding them of how important the bill would be in restoring fairness and leveling the playing field for retailers nationwide. The ensuing legislative victory was a 69-to-29-vote landslide with broad bipartisan support. 

The Marketplace Fairness Act addresses a critical loophole that allowed out-of-state Internet and mail order companies to avoid collecting and remitting state and local sales taxes that local brick and mortar stores always have been obliged to collect. Over time, storefronts found their businesses profoundly affected by this imbalance. Multitudes of consumers across the country used brick and mortar locations to narrow their flooring choices, then took their business to virtual companies and catalog sellers who claimed their prices were lower in part because they did not collect sales taxes.