Tax overhaul has both champions and skeptics among retailers

The National Retail Federation (NRF), the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the National Grocers Association (NGA) were among industry trade groups voicing their enthusiastic support of the new tax bill, citing the reforms as necessary for jump-starting the economy. And few big retailers seem to doubt that cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent will fail to give them more working capital. Independents and small chain retailers, however, are not necessarily optimistic that they'll see much benefit from the changes. “I don’t think it will affect me in any significant way businesswise, and overall, the bill is horrific for the public,” Lisa Katz, owner of New Jersey-based The Bootery, told Footwear News.