Following a national trend, District officials have placed Wal-Mart squarely in the sights of pending legislation. The D.C. Examiner is reporting today that six of the City Council’s 13 members have signed onto legislation that would ban the construction or development of big box stores larger than 80,000 square feet if any more than 15 percent of their merchandise were tax-free. The legislation, sponsored by David Catania (I-At Large) would directly affect Wal-Mart and Target, both of which have taken to selling food, which is untaxed, in their stores.

Catania, who was until last summer a registered Republican, noted:

It’s wonderful that the District is becoming an attractive retail destination, but those international giants that have a history of belittling workers and crushing local merchants are going to have to play by our rules if they step onto our turf.

Wal-Mart representatives and city officials had discussed setting up shop along Rhode Island Avenue in Northeast last year, yet the company turned down the offer. There is no word yet on whether such legislation would permanently deter the Arkansas-based giant from breaking ground within the confines of the Beltway, nor is there any indication as to whether it would affect the Target slated to open in Columbia Heights in 2007.

Local area governments have recently taken creative legislative measures to curtail the pernicious influence of the retailing giant — earlier this year, officials in Calvert County, Md., imposed a 75,000 square-foot size limit on the retailer (which responded twice as creatively), and only weeks ago Maryland state legislators passed a law mandating that all companies employing more than 10,000 people (only Wal-Mart, to date) dedicate 8 percent of their payroll to health benefits.

The image above was taken from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which has organized workers and communities in opposition to Wal-Mart.