For almost 30 years, customers have counted on the photography expertise and wide array of cameras, lens, gear and electronics at Arlington Camera, a family-owned business located at Randol Mill Road and Cooper Street.

But Bill and Angela Porter have noticed a disheartening trend: potential customers come into the store to look over their merchandise and listen to expert product advice. And then they leave without buying, likely to purchase what they've just seen at an online site.

The Porters and those who run other family-owned Arlington businesses say they know they're losing out. Brick-and-mortar stores like theirs must charge sales tax and many online sellers don't.

The Marketplace Fairness Act, a new bill working its way through the U.S. House of Representatives, aims to change that. The bill would require that online retailers collect sales tax at the time of the transaction just as local retailers are required to do.

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, and U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, along with Mayor Robert Cluck and City Council Member Jimmy Bennett spoke out in favor of the bill, which they said would level the playing field between small business owners and online retailers.

Currently online businesses that do not have a physical address in the state are not obligated to tax customers. And that has resulted in a loss of millions to Arlington and the state, officials said.

"Our small businesses need a fair chance," said Mayor Robert Cluck.

Bennett, who accompanied the Porters to Washington, D.C., about the issue, said the average consumer doesn't always think about how small businesses can be affected by what he called the "unfair tax advantage" of Internet sales.

"This is about protecting our local business owners," he said.

The Porters and others like them said they have seen customers write down or use their smart phones to record stock numbers of items in their stores and then purchase them online.

"They'll actually say to us, "Thanks for showing it to me, but I'm going to buy it online,'" Angela Porter said. "We take it kind of personally because we take the time to show them the product."

It's not the Internet price competition that bothers them, business owners said. They match prices whenever they can and offer special deals, classes, discounts and personal attention.

But local business owners have to pay staff and other building expenses, so losing money over the sales tax especially stings.

Connie Gauntt, owner of Gene Allen's Gifts, said her store offers specialized customer consultation on items like stationary, and she hosts ornament and collector's clubs at the store only to have clients purchase those items online.

Judy Jamieson-Goff, who operates June's Dancewear on East Abram Street, estimates that she lost thousands of dollars in sales during last spring's recital season from dance groups that used to buy items from her who now buy online to save the tax.

"Of course we can't compete with online, we have employees to pay," she said.

The Marketplace Fairness Act legislation is currently pending in the House and is scheduled to be heard when lawmakers go back to session on September 9."