NRF: Stimulus bill doesn't do enough for consumers

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NRF: Stimulus bill doesn't do enough for consumers

Retail organization repeats call for national sales-tax holidays

February 06, 2009

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Washington--The National Retail Federation (NRF) told the Senate on Thursday that the economic-stimulus legislation under consideration fails to do enough for consumers, and repeated its call for a series of national sales-tax holidays intended to jumpstart spending.

"While the legislation currently under consideration includes a number of provisions designed to produce long-term economic growth and job creation, we are extremely concerned that it does not do enough to immediately stimulate consumer spending or to preserve the tens of millions of jobs that consumer spending supports," NRF Senior Vice President Steve Pfister said in a media release issued on Thursday. "With consumer spending representing two-thirds of GDP, it is difficult, if not impossible, to foresee an improvement to overall economic growth until consumers regain confidence and resume spending."

The NRF in December proposed that a series of national sales-tax holidays be held during March, July and October 2009, each lasting 10 days including two weekends. Tax-free treatment would apply to all tangible goods subject to state sales tax except tobacco and alcohol, ranging from retail merchandise and restaurant meals to automobiles. The federal government would reimburse the 45 states that have sales taxes for the lost revenue, and would provide the five states without a sales tax (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon) with comparable revenue based on population.

The NRF estimates that the proposed tax holidays could save consumers nearly $20 billion, or almost $175 for the average family, based on the $236 billion in sales tax collected nationwide each year. Beyond consumers saving money on already-expected purchases, retailers have reported sales increases of 35 percent to 40 percent from state-level tax holidays that have become popular in recent years.

"The increased sales resulting from these holidays would provide a direct infusion of liquidity into the economy, benefiting consumers as well as cash-starved states, which have seen a precipitous decline in sales tax revenue," Pfister said. "Furthermore, sales-tax holidays would help preserve and create significant numbers of jobs throughout interrelated sectors of the economy including the retail, manufacturing and transportation industries."

Pfister's comments came in a letter to members of the Senate, which is currently debating amendments to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the package of economic-stimulus measures passed by the House last week.

The NRF proposal comes as the retail industry is facing one of its most difficult years on record. The NRF released its annual retail sales forecast last week, predicting that sales will drop 2.5 percent during the first half of 2009 and end the year down 0.5 percent from 2008's already-low levels. That would be the first year-to-year drop since the NRF began forecasting results in 1995. In addition, the retail industry lost 579,000 jobs in 2008 and is continuing to see job losses this year.

The NRF is the largest retail trade association in the world, with members including department, discount, drug, grocery, independent and specialty stores, catalog merchants, chain restaurants and e-tailers, as well as the industry's key trading partners of retail goods and services.

For more information about the NRF, visit its Web site, NRF.com.

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