WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — A handful of retailers joined NBDA and PeopleForBikes executives to visit a dozen congressional office here last week. The group talked to policy makers about the impact of the bike industry and about the NBDA's priorities.
"Our industry has a great story to tell about jobs, technology, and our connection to small business, the contributions we make to tax revenues and the ways we help strengthen America's economy," said Todd Grant, the NBDA's president, in a statement this week.
Joining Grant on the visit were retailers Josh Harrod of Tin Shed Sports, Steven Fluhr of M&M Cyclery, and Brandee Lepak of Global Bikes. Lepak is the chair of the NBDA board. Jennifer Dice of PeopleForBikes also joined.
Grant said the focus for the vist was preserving the debit card reforms passed six years ago.
"These debit reforms have brought competition, transparency and predictability into the market by requiring networks to compete for merchant business for the first time and placed a cap on what the largest banks could collect in interchange on debit transactions," Grant said. "In an industry like ours, where most transactions are done on a credit or debit card and for many 'swipe fees' are the 3rd or 4th greatest expense, maintaining this legislation is highly important."
The group met with Senate and House staff. Besides the debit card issue, Grant said the group talked about "e-fairness" (state sales tax collection from e-commerce retailers) and the potential impact of a Border Adjustment Tax on an industry that is almost exclusively dependent on imports.
