‘Retail Means Jobs’ Helps Secure Public Policy Victories

NRF dealt with public policy issues ranging from tax policy to international trade in 2011, but one theme ran through each: the need to create jobs to get our nation’s economy back on track.

That is why NRF decided to bring its advocacy efforts together under a uniting banner — the Retail Means Jobs campaign. The key message of the largest campaign in NRF’s 100-year history is that retail supports one out of every four U.S. jobs and contributes nearly one-fifth of U.S. GDP. Accompanied by our Jobs, Innovation and Consumer Value Agenda, this campaign has a simple but compelling message for lawmakers: Public policy that supports retail is public policy that supports the economy.

With the Retail Means Jobs campaign and messaging as a foundation, NRF saw some major policy victories in 2011. Debit card swipe fee reform is now saving retailers and their customers $7 billion a year. As efforts to delay or repeal the law materialized, NRF launched an aggressive 60-day campaign that brought Main Street voices to the debate, resulting in the reform taking effect. This success earned us the No. 1 spot on The Hill newspaper’s list of the Top 10 Lobbying Victories of 2011 and set the stage to address credit cards in 2012.

NRF helped convince Congress to finally approve legislation implementing long-stalled free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. Making it easier for U.S. companies to export their goods will mean more jobs for Americans and more spending money in workers’ pockets.

As Congress laid the groundwork for corporate tax reform, NRF argued that eliminating credits and deductions that benefit only a few industries in return for lowering tax rates for everyone will help boost employment. We submitted testimony to key committees, took the top tax expert from Sears to appear before Congress and worked closely with key lawmakers. Our efforts helped convince House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) to propose cutting the corporate tax rate to 25 percent.

Thanks in large part to NRF, legislation to level the playing field on sales tax collection rapidly gained momentum and is now poised for passage. The long-pending Main Street Fairness Act was joined by two similar but simpler measures, the Marketplace Equity Act and the Marketplace Fairness Act. Whichever is ultimately adopted will preserve Main Street jobs by eliminating the unfair price advantage online sellers hold over local stores.

NRF formed new coalitions aimed at putting the emphasis of health care reform back on making health care more accessible by making it more affordable. A key federal advisory panel agreed with us that costs must be a prime consideration, and legislation was introduced to repeal the costly employer mandate that threatens to force some retailers to reduce their payrolls.

These are just some of the victories we have seen, and I can promise you that this is just the beginning.