AUSTIN, TX – The Texas Retailers Association (TRA) has prepared legislative priorities for the 85th Texas Legislature. Collectively, TRA represents more than 320,000 retail establishments and over 3.5 million jobs across the state. The association supports all levels of Texas retail including grocery stores, chains and single location small businesses.
- TRA supports inventory property tax relief and repeal. Texas is one of only seven states that allows local property taxes to be assessed on retail inventories. The other states (Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and West Virginia) are not states with whom Texas normally competes for new business and economic development opportunities. Additionally, inventory property tax relief is not selective, it benefits large and small businesses equally and attracts greater investment in the Texas economy.
- TRA supports a business friendly regulatory environment. TRA member companies are regulated, licensed, inspected, and taxed by agencies in Texas and appreciate the Legislature’s efforts to continue to make Texas retail friendly. TRA supports regulation that is manageable and that allows our members to provide excellent customer service, top quality products and continued business success in the retail industry. TRA appreciates the various approaches our membership takes to providing these services and supports their efforts to make those choices independently without unnecessary regulatory burdens.
- TRA members support Texas customers and communities. All TRA members want to provide the best service to their customers and communities, and do so in a variety of ways. Many TRA members participate in the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program (SNAP) and want to do so as effectively and efficiently as possible to maximize customer experiences. Insuring product availability, particularly fresh fruits, vegetables, and other nutritious food items to our customers while also allowing retailers to manage employees and inventories, is essential in this process. To do so, TRA will advocate to expand the SNAP distribution schedule from its current 15 days to 28 days. This will provide both customers and businesses with a more even and predictable shopping experiences across the state.
The Texas Retailers Association looks forward to working with the state’s leadership and the Texas Legislature on these important priorities on behalf of our state’s retail community during the upcoming session.
The Texas Retailers Association is a trade association representing retail outlets of every size and sector across the state. The mission of the TRA is to be a strong advocate for the retail industry and to provide value-added services and programs pertinent to members. The Texas Retailers Association is the state affiliate of the National Retail Federation and the Texas retail industry represents more than 3.5 million jobs at over 320,000 stores statewide. In fact, the retail sector in Texas is more than twice the size of any other industry and one in four Texas jobs is within retail.