What We Do
Founded in 1940, the Michigan Retailers Association (MRA) represents more than 5,000 businesses and their 15,000 stores and websites. As the voice of Michigan’s retail industry, the association works to promote retail-friendly policies, protect the retail industry from harmful taxes and regulations and educate consumers on the importance of keeping their money in Michigan.
Key accomplishments during MRA’s more than 80-year history include:
- Enacted Main Street Fairness legislation to help level the playing field for Michigan retail businesses
- Modernized the state’s costly and burdensome item pricing law by giving retailers price markingflexibility and saving retailers and consumers money
- Pre-empted local governments from passing ordinances and policies dealing with employee wages and benefits
- Pro-retail changes in sales tax collection
- Corrected unemployment compensation formula by making it more experience rated so retailers were not subsidizing other industries
- Helped lead a business coalition which tightened the definition of “disability” for workers’ compensation to ensure that benefits paid related to workplace injuries
- Phased out the Single Business Tax and replaced the Michigan Business Tax with a more business-friendly corporate profits tax
- Strengthened bad-check and retail-theft protections
- Reformed regulations on installment sales and consumer credit
