NAM to Congress: Reverse Course on Harmful Tax Changes
Recent tax law changes that increase the costs of research, machinery purchases and key business investments will harm manufacturers “at a time when 62% of manufacturing leaders already expect a recession in 2023,” the NAM told congressional leaders Monday.
What’s going on: Beginning in 2022, businesses that had for decades been allowed to immediately deduct research and development expenses had to begin amortizing these costs over years, making innovation more expensive.
Why it’s important: The change creates a competitive disadvantage for manufacturers in the U.S., as “China, which has made no secret of its ambition to become the world leader in advanced manufacturing, currently provides a 200% deduction for R&D expenses for manufacturers,” NAM Senior Vice President of Policy and Government Relations Aric Newhouse told the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.
What can be done: Congress should reverse course to avoid harming manufacturers, Newhouse said. Here’s what lawmakers should do:
- Reverse the R&D amortization provision: Policymakers should allow manufacturers to go back to being able to deduct 100% of their R&D expenses in the same year in which they are incurred.
- Protect interest deductibility: Congress must reverse the new, stricter limit on interest deductibility (the earnings before interest and tax, or EBIT, standard) and return to the “standard in place prior to 2022, which was based on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization.”
- Return to full expensing: Lawmakers should go back to allowing businesses to take 100% deductions for equipment and machinery purchases in the tax year of purchase.
The last word: By making these changes, Newhouse said, “Congress can help ensure that manufacturers, especially small manufacturers, can continue to invest in their operations, their workers and America’s future.”
Related
Manufacturers Unveil Competitiveness Agenda Ahead of Midterm Elections
“Competing to Win” offers a path for bringing the country together around policies, shared values and a unified purpose
Washington, D.C. – Ahead of the midterm elections, the National Association of Manufacturers released its policy roadmap, “Competing to Win,” a comprehensive blueprint featuring immediate solutions for bolstering manufacturers’ competitiveness. It is also a roadmap for policymakers on the laws and regulations needed to strengthen the manufacturing industry in the months and years ahead.
With the country facing rising prices, snarled supply chains and geopolitical turmoil, manufacturers are outlining an actionable competitiveness agenda that Americans across the political spectrum can support. “Competing to Win” includes the policies manufacturers in America will need in place to continue driving the country forward.
“‘Competing to Win’ offers a path for bringing our country together around policies, shared values and a unified purpose,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons. “The NAM is putting forward a plan filled with ideas that policymakers could pursue immediately, including solutions to urgent problems, such as energy security, immigration reform, supply chain disruptions, the ongoing workforce shortage and more. Manufacturers have shown incredible resilience through difficult times, employing more workers now than before the pandemic, but continued resilience is not guaranteed without the policies that are critical to the state of manufacturing in America.”
The NAM and its members will leverage “Competing to Win” to shape policy debates ahead of the midterm elections, in the remainder of the 117th Congress and at the start of the 118th Congress—including in direct engagement with lawmakers, for grassroots activity, across traditional and digital media and through events in key states and districts as we did following the initial rollout of the roadmap in 2016.
The document focuses on 12 areas of action, and all policies are rooted in the values that have made America exceptional and keep manufacturing strong: free enterprise, competitiveness, individual liberty and equal opportunity.
Learn more about how manufacturers are leading and about the industry’s competitiveness agenda at nam.org/competing-to-win.
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The National Association of Manufacturers is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Manufacturing employs more than 12.8 million men and women, contributes $2.77 trillion to the U.S. economy annually and accounts for 58% of private-sector research and development. The NAM is the powerful voice of the manufacturing community and the leading advocate for a policy agenda that helps manufacturers compete in the global economy and create jobs across the United States. For more information about the NAM or to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org
