Retailers Pledge to Pass Along Tax Savings

Several of the nation’s best-known retailers say they’ll turn their savings under the new tax code into lower prices--giving their customers an added benefit under the law that took effect Jan. 1.

And the stores expect the price cuts to give them something else in return--greater sales volume and, in the end, bigger profits.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said Friday that it would pass along tax savings as part of a policy of several years’ standing under which the chain passes along manufacturers’ price cuts to consumers.

Jim Vongremp, a spokesman for the Bentonville, Ark., chain, said Wal-Mart officials do not yet know how much of a tax saving the company will receive under the law or what percentage will be passed along to consumers.

Target Stores, a division of Dayton-Hudson Corp., also said it plans to cut prices if it realizes a tax saving.

“As soon as we realize those savings, we intend to have them reflected in our stores,” said George Hite, a spokesman for Target, which has 246 branches in 22 states from Ohio to California.

Toys R Us, the nation’s largest toy retailer, has already cut its prices on selected toy merchandise, said Michael Goldstein, the chain’s vice president for finance and administration. He said the reductions would affect only Toys R Us stores and not the company’s Kids R Us clothing stores.