"Tax reform is the key to increased prosperity."
WASHINGTON – The National Retail Federation welcomed tonight’s approval of tax reform legislation by the Senate Finance Committee and urged approval of the bill by the full Senate.
“With this pro-growth measure now approved by committee, we urge senators to spend the Thanksgiving break building consensus on how to pass tax reform and to set aside any differences that might keep this vitally important goal from becoming reality,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Tax reform is the key to increased prosperity that small businesses, large employers and middle-class workers have all been waiting for for more than a generation. This is about jobs, wages and America’s future.”
The Finance Committee tonight approved the Senate’s version of tax reform, voting just hours after the full House approved the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 on a 227-205 vote this afternoon. A vote by the full Senate is expected after Thanksgiving. While details vary, both versions would cut the federal corporate tax rate to 20 percent from the current 35 percent, reduce taxes for small business “pass throughs” and lower taxes for middle-class workers.
Both the House and Senate bills would provide the first comprehensive rewrite of the U.S. tax code since 1986.
Earlier this week, Shay served as moderator as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke at an Ohio Council of Retail Merchants event in Columbus. Last month, Shay told President Trump during a White House meeting with trade association CEOs that retailers strongly support tax reform as a way to create jobs and boost the nation’s economy.
NRF has led the retail industry’s fight for tax reform for years, calling on Congress to eliminate tax breaks that benefit only some industries and to use the revenue saved to lower rates for all companies, including small businesses. A recent NRF analysis found that reducing the corporate tax rate to 20 percent could result in the creation of between 500,000 and 1.5 million new jobs throughout the economy.
About NRF
NRF is the world’s largest retail trade association, representing discount and department stores, home goods and specialty stores, Main Street merchants, grocers, wholesalers, chain restaurants and internet retailers from the United States and more than 45 countries. Retail is the nation’s largest private-sector employer, supporting one in four U.S. jobs – 42 million working Americans. Contributing $2.6 trillion to annual GDP, retail is a daily barometer for the nation’s economy.