More than.200 retail professionals from across the United States gathered at the Retail Advocates Summit in Washington, D.C., this week.
Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the event hosted by the National Retail Federation about the overall retail industry and where it’s heading for the country.
Pence said the best days of retail are ahead and also shared his beliefs on what the barriers impeding retail jobs are and how to remove them.
“As retail goes, so goes America. This president is going to work with this Congress, this year, and pass the largest tax cuts since the days of Ronald Reagan,” said Pence, who added that the country’s current tax code is responsible for preventing new retail job creation. “The internal revenue code is two times as long as the Bible, with no good news.”
The convention focus was centered on retailer and employee tax reform, but the VP veered into talks of repealing and replacing Obamacare. He also highlighted the administration’s plans to repeal the death tax.
Pence ended by discussing tax reform in the retail industry, recommending the corporate tax rate be cut from 35 percent to 15 percent.
One of the major issues facing retailers that Pence did not address at the retail-focused convention was House Speaker Paul Ryan’s border adjustment tax (BAT) proposal. Through this tax, if carried out, would place a tax on imports coming into the country.