Washington Retail Insight

VAT Study on Agenda at NRF Tax Committee Meeting

By J. Craig Shearman
Washington Retail Insight
October 20, 2010

NRF’s new study on the economic consequences of a Value Added Tax, the upcoming election and other issues facing the retail industry will be among the topics as the NRF Taxation Committee meets in Florida this week.

Committee members are scheduled to meet at the headquarters of NRF member company Office Depot in Boca Raton on Thursday and Friday.

Robert Carroll, a principal with Ernst and Young’s Quantitative Economics and Statistics group, will provide the committee with a detailed briefing on the VAT study performed by E&Y and Tax Policy Advisers for NRF. Released last week, the study found that creation of an add-on VAT to help reduce the federal deficit would result in the loss of 850,000 jobs in the first year, reduce gross domestic product for three years, and bring a permanent drop in retail spending totaling $2.5 trillion over the first 10 years. NRF has submitted the study to President Obama’s deficit reduction commission in hope of keeping a VAT out of the recommendations the commission is scheduled to make to Congress by December.

NRF Senior Vice President for Government Relations Steve Pfister will address next month’s elections and the impact that a potential shift of political control of the House or Senate could have on issues affecting retailers. NRF Vice President and Tax Counsel Rachelle Bernstein will discuss tax-related issues on the congressional agenda and also options for tax reform.

In addition, E&Y tax experts will provide updates on a wide range of technical issues such as information reporting, economic substance, repairs, gift cards and vendor allowances, among others.

© 2010 National Retail Federation