U.S. Lawmakers Still Plotting Path Forward On Budget, Tax Bill

With work finished on the bipartisan, $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, U.S. House and Senate leaders continue to plot a way forward on the larger “human infrastructure” Build Back Better budget and tax bill. Last Wednesday, November 3, Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled final language for the plan.

The National Association of Manufacturers summarizes the drastic changes the bill would make to labor, energy, environmental, and tax policy here.

As Connecting the Dots explained last week, this legislation contains $1.75 trillion in new spending and a host of new tax levies to pay for the spending. According to the nonpartisan, nonprofit Tax Foundation, the legislation would raise taxes by $1.2 trillion over 10 years, reduce long-run economic output by nearly 0.4 percent, eliminate nearly 103,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the United States, and cut average after-tax incomes for the top 80 percent of taxpayers over the long run. Read the foundation’s full analysis here.

Congress’s nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated the cost of the tax increases would be even higher: $1.5 trillion.

The Metals Service Center Institute opposes these new taxes and, last week, joined more than 100 other trade associations to send a letter to House and Senate leaders asking them to oppose the Build Back Better plan. As the letter, which is available here, explained, the policies outlined in the legislation would impact pass-through businesses that are held in trust and that earn as little as $200,000 annually. The letter said, “Due to the prevalence of trusts, the higher tax rates included in the Framework would harm tens of thousands of modestly sized family businesses located across the country.”

MSCI encourages its member company leaders and employees to call or write to their members of Congress asking that they oppose these tax hikes. Please mention that:

• Raising taxes will put well-paying industrial metals jobs in the United States at risk;
• The industrial metals sector is essential and is powering our recovery, but raising taxes will make it less competitive; and
• Nearly 94 percent of manufacturers have said that higher taxes would be harmful to their businesses.

Individuals also can use this link from the National Association of Manufacturers to make their voices heard.