NRF Wants a Tax Holiday
The National Retail Federation, a Washington, D.C.–based retail organization, is asking President-elect Barack Obama to include several national sales-tax holidays in the upcoming economic stimulus package. NRF is proposing suspending state sales tax for 10 days in March, July and October 2009. Tax holidays will encourage consumer spending, which will help the U.S. economy recover, the NRF argued. “With consumer spending accounting for 70 percent of GDP, it is difficult to foresee an improvement in overall economic growth until the consumers regain their footing,” the NRF said in a letter sent to Obama and signed by several NRF chairmen and executives, including Myron E. “Mike” Ullman III, chairman and chief executive officer of JCPenney Co.; Philip L. Francis, chairman and chief executive officer of PetSmart Inc.; Stephen I. Sadove, chairman and chief executive officer of Saks Inc.; and NRF President and Chief Executive Officer Tracy Mullin.
