Our retail advocates advanced the industry’s policy priorities in a big way in 2023. From writing letters and visiting lawmakers to testifying in Congress and telling the industry’s story through media outlets, both large and small businesses are instrumental in advancing policies that help retail thrive.
Learn more about organized retail crime in the retail industry and how to combat the issue.
Building support for the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act
Seventy retail asset protection executives from nearly 30 brands gathered on Capitol Hill for Fight Retail Crime Day in October. Throughout that day, these executives talked about ongoing efforts to protect our people and our property. We discussed successes in curbing retail theft and the many challenges that remain. Through our collective action, we made significant progress in educating policymakers about the impact of organized retail crime and bringing new supporters to the bill.
Continuing the fight against rising swipe fees
Reforming the broken credit card routing market and reining in excessive swipe fees remain a top priority for retailers and other businesses across industries. NRF has continued to help lead the charge in this effort by conducting multiple small business fly-ins, digital ad campaigns and other advocacy efforts. With credit card swipe fees increasing by 20% year over year, American businesses can’t afford to wait for Congress to step in to inject competition into the market.
The United States already pays the highest swipe fees in the industrialized world, amounting to $160.7 billion annually. Even though swipe fees increased 16.7% from 2021 to 2022 alone, Visa and Mastercard raised their prices and implemented new fees again in October. As merchants prepare to shell out an additional $502 million annually, NRF continues to monitor the legislative landscape for a vehicle to bring the Credit Card Competition Act to the floor.
Preparing to preserve pro-growth tax policy
NRF continues to advocate for the preservation of a competitive corporate tax rate that promotes economic growth and prosperity, benefiting working people, families and American businesses.
Raising the corporate rate to 28%, as the Biden administration has proposed, would increase the U.S. rate to one of the highest in the world. NRF recently submitted testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee opposing the Biden administration corporate rate increase from 21% to 28% — a move that the Federal Reserve Board study found would be “uniformly harmful to the overall economy and its workers.”
Additionally, NRF opposed consumption tax proposals such as the “Fair Tax” or a Border Adjustment Tax that would shift the tax burden onto consumers and have a devastating impact on our economy. NRF’s Taxation Committee met in November to advocate for the immediate, retroactive extension of the expired business interest expense provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act with House and Senate leadership.
Challenging anti-business and anti-worker labor laws
As the Biden administration has issued a host of new labor regulations throughout the year, NRF has remained committed to ensuring members can manage their workforces by establishing policies that support retail workers’ career growth. NRF’s Employment Law and Benefits Committee met weekly throughout 2023 to discuss alternative policies that promote workplace flexibility, job creation and economic growth.
Visit the NRF Action Center and reach out to Congress on issues affecting the retail industry.
Further, we’ve taken to the courts and Capitol Hill to oppose policies that intrude on business operations and incur unnecessary costs for retailers, such as changes to the Wage and Hour Division’s overtime rule, new OSHA regulations permitting union access to employer facilities, Labor Department efforts to reclassify independent contractors, and recent updates to the NLRB’s joint employer standard.
Get involved
Retail is 52 million voices strong — and we know real change happens when we work together. Visit the NRF Action Center to learn more about the policies affecting the retail industry, and how you can take a stand on the issues that matter most.
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