State Treasurer and Newton resident Steven Grossman said this week that the state should negotiate a sales tax agreement with Amazon, and that Congress should pass a federal law that would allow states to collect $23 billion in online sales taxes nationwide.

“While I never like to see taxes go up, nevertheless, this is an issue of fairness, Main Street fairness. We have a half-million people that work in the retail sector; bookstores and others are at a competitive disadvantage. They lose lots of sales because they don’t get a chance to sell at a competitive price. Amazon is selling books at 6.25 percent lower prices than you can get them at a little bookstore,” Grossman said.

The Massachusetts Main Street Fairness Coalition  estimates that an agreement with Amazon could boost state coffers by between $25 million and $45 million in additional sales tax revenue.