It has been confirmed that the peak industry body, the Australian Retailers Association, will be attending the Tax Summit, to be held in Canberra in October.
ARA executive director, Russell Zimmerman said the ARA's presence at the forum was crucial to ensuring the government recognised key issues and challenges faced by the retail industry.
“The government is acutely aware of the stress the retail sector is under. As Australia's largest employer and with jobs under threat due to poor trading conditions, now is the time to make sure the voice of the retail sector is heard.”
The ARA will now work with retailers and other industry groups to determine focus areas for discussion and proposals aimed at providing support for the retail industry.
Zimmerman was optimistic about meaningful changes to come out of retailer discussions with government ministers.
“ARA is looking forward to positive regulatory taxation changes to come out of the forum,” Zimmerman said.
The ARA recently released a statement saying that treasury predictions of shrinkage in manufacturing, the cost of increases brought on by household taxes and regulatory burden were putting retailers at risk of becoming a “weak link” in the economic chain.