23 May June is Children’s Footwear Awareness and Advocacy Month
TAKE ACTION! Click here to email your Member of Congress and ask them to support and pass the AFA to lower the cost of children’s shoes! It takes only 30 seconds.
FDRA has declared June Children’s Footwear Awareness and Advocacy Month. Many Americans do not know that a hidden tax is imposed on children’s footwear that raises the price of a pair of shoes far beyond what it should.
FDRA, the oldest and largest footwear trade association in the U.S., has been leading the effort to urge Congress to end this hidden and unfair tax on children shoes. There is a bill that would do just that, called the Affordable Footwear Act (AFA).
Please join FDRA in this fight to pass this bill! Below are facts to educate yourself on this tax, which inflates the cost of children’s footwear, and information on the AFA.
After you learn the facts, tell your Member of Congress to support children by cosponsoring the AFA. It takes just 30 seconds to send them an email on this important issue by clicking here!
Did You Know
- American families are paying a hidden outdated tax on shoes, which can add as much as 30% or 40% extra to the price of a pair of children’s shoes.
- For some children’s shoes, taxes can reach 48% or higher! Often times mom is fitting her children with shoes sized too large because she can’t afford the cost due to these hidden taxes. That’s not right.
- This hidden tax is a tariff that was created in the 1930s, but while other tariffs have dropped on goods like phones or cars, import taxes on shoes have remained exorbitantly high.
- 99.9% of all children shoes sold in the U.S. are made overseas, meaning this tax hits every family, and hits lower-income families hardest.
- This hidden shoe tax is regressive. Children’s shoes are taxed at a higher duty rate than Italian leather loafers worn on Wall Street.
AFA will lower the cost of children’s shoes, putting more money in the pockets of hard working lower and middle income families at a time they need it most.
Highlights of the AFA:
- The AFA would zero out all duties of children’s footwear for 3 years.
- Enacting this bill would, for example, mean that a $10 dollar children’s canvas sneaker sold in stores could be reduced to $7.
- The bill is written so that it does not impact any domestic shoe manufacturer, in fact many companies who still make shoes in the U.S. not only support this bill but have lobbied Congress to pass it.
- With support from both democrats and republicans, the AFA is one of the leading bipartisan bills in Congress.
If you have questions about the import duties on children’s footwear, or the AFA, please contact FDRA at info@fdra.org