Keeping Taxes Stable & Fair

Retailers pay among the highest effective tax rates of any industry. Because of their operating model and footprint, most brick-and-mortar retailers cannot benefit from the deductions and credits available to other industries. Every time the corporate rate goes up, it negatively impacts their ability to compete and invest in employees, innovation, and communities.

Retailers’ commitment to well-rounded economic competitiveness for their employees, communities, and customers has guided RILA in successfully advocating for a competitive and fair tax code. In 2021, we successfully advocated for Congress and the Biden-Harris administration to keep the corporate rate at 21 percent, to enact a minimum tax to ensure all profitable companies contribute their fair share, and to support flexible, broad energy tax incentives to accelerate retail investments. In 2017, under the Trump administration, RILA beat back a devastating Border Adjustment Tax and had it replaced with a lower, more competitive corporate rate. 

RILA will continue to defend these successes while innovating in ways that enable retailers to invest even more in their communities.  

From supporting, expanding, and simplifying workforce credits to investing in the care economy and the green energy transition, RILA continues to advocate for tax policies that help support retail workers, communities, and shoppers.