WDET News
- Trade Group Proposes Sales Tax Holidays
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Dec 23, 2008GeneralWith many stores across the country seeing slow sales this holiday season…the National Retail Federation is proposing to stimulate spending by creating a moratorium on sales taxes during certain periods of the year.
Detroit Public Radio’s Quinn Klinefelter has more…
President-elect Barack Obama is crafting a plan to stimulate the economy…And the National Retail Federation’s Rachelle Bernstein says one new policy in particular would help any economic stimulus package: Allowing states to suspend charging sales tax during three specific times of the year…times when many people typically go shopping.
“The federal government would reimburse the more sales taxes lost during that holiday period. Our experience with STATE sales tax holidays is that it drives many consumers into the stores.”
Bernstein notes that economists estimate consumer spending provides about 70 percent of the Gross Domestic Product…and any increase in shopping would help stimulate the overall economy.