This week, the NAM hosted Investment Week in an effort to focus congressional attention on the urgent need to extend several key pro-investment tax incentives. Manufacturers support a permanent extension or, at a minimum, a multiyear extension of enhanced Section 179 expensing, 50 percent first-year expensing (also known as bonus depreciation) and the comparable provisions allowing the accelerated use of alternative minimum tax credits in lieu of bonus depreciation, all of which would bolster competitiveness for our industry and economy.
In recent months, we have seen some forward movement. However, as the fourth quarter begins, the House and Senate have continued down separate paths and are following different strategies. Through Investment Week, the NAM sought to drive home to policymakers the urgent need to renew these key tax provisions.
Events included a Shopfloor briefing on Capitol Hill featuring representatives from NAM member companies Verizon, Deere & Company and Owens-Illinois, Inc., as well as an economist from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. The NAM amplified the message in the media and on our Shopfloor blog, profiling a number of companies that strongly support and rely on these provisions.
The NAM also spearheaded a business community–wide sign-on letter with more than 200 company and association signatories urging Congress to take swift action on the incentives. While our ultimate goal continues to be a reformed, pro-manufacturing tax code through comprehensive tax reform, we will continue to work to ensure that manufacturers have certainty about the tax provisions that help them compete in a global economy.
Associated Industries of Missouri is the sole official designated partner of the National Association of Manufacturers in Missouri.