National Retail Federation (NRF)

National Retail Federation SVP David French told the House Judiciary Committee in a letter this week that legislation is needed to level the playing field between local retailers and out-of-state competitors, as the NRF continues to push Congress to pass legislation that would require online and remote sellers to collect state and local sales taxes.

National Retail Federation president and CEO Matthew Shay and chief economist Jack Kleinhenz issued a response to the organization’s February jobs report.

“While there are signs of modest momentum in the economy, now is not the time to play partisan politics with the recovery by forcing federal mandates on retailers and small business owners like an increase in the minimum wage,” Shay said. “Such policy decisions could hamper economic growth and actually drive up the unemployment rate.”

Many fingers pointed at Target after the retailer suffered a massive data breach during the holidays, but preventing the next cyber attack is beyond the scope of any single company, according to testimony retail representatives shared with lawmakers on Monday.

Many areas of the Affordable Care Act remain unsettled

Retail companies should expect this year and 2014 to be a wild roller coaster ride of health insurance changes for retailers. That assessment came from Neil Trautwein, VP, employee benefits, National Retail Federation, who said that retailers need to take prudent actions to comply with the requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).