NRF:ACEC Process & "Report" Biased, Tainted 
Retailers Urge Congress to Reject Unfair Recommendations

Washington, DC, April 6, 2000 – The National Retail Federation, the largest association representing the retail industry, today expressed skepticism about the legitimacy of the so-called “majority report” of the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce (ACEC). "The ACEC was charged with addressing one of the critical issues facing lawmakers in the emerging new economy in an open and fair way," said NRF President Tracy Mullin. "Unfortunately, the Commission ignored its legal obligations and played by its own rules." NRF believes the report is invalid for two main reasons:

The ACEC report was supported by only 10 of the 19 commission members, far short of the supermajority mandated by the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA).   Moreover, despite the statutory requirement that local retail businesses be included on the Commission, and retailers’ efforts to secure a seat on the panel, Main Street retailers were shut out of the process from the very beginning and their concerns never addressed.

NRF believes current sales and use tax law creates an unlevel playing field among retailers. Retailers do not support imposing new taxes on the Internet, rather they simply want "tax-equity" among all retail channels where purchases are taxed (or not taxed) the same regardless of how they are ordered or delivered – in a store, through a catalogue or over the Internet.

The whole issue of Internet tax comes down to a basic theme – fairness, Mullin added. It is unfair for the federal government to offer a significant competitive advantage to a whole class of business. Moreover, it is unfair for the millions of consumers who lack the means to shop over the Internet to shoulder the tax burden while the more affluent shop tax-free.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) is the world's largest retail trade association with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet and independent stores. NRF members represent an industry that encompasses more than 1.4 million U.S. retail establishments, employs more than 20 million people -- about 1 in 5 American workers -- and registered 1999 sales of $3 trillion. NRF’s international members operate stores in more than 50 nations. In its role as the retail industry's umbrella group, NRF also represents 32 national and 50 state associations in the U.S. as well as 36 international associations representing retailers abroad.