AUSTIN – The Texas Association of Manufacturers today called on members of Congress to secure U.S. businesses’ global competitiveness by restoring pro-growth R&D tax policies that will support innovation, enable businesses to finance growth, and make permanent a key incentive for capital equipment purchases.

“Pro-growth R&D, interest deductibility, and equipment expensing provisions are essential promote manufacturing R&D investment and job creation in Texas and beyond,” said Tony Bennett, President & CEO of the Texas Association of Manufacturers. “These provisions help to create good-paying Texas jobs, boost US investment in innovation, and grow our state’s economy. On behalf of job creators across our state, we strongly urge Congress to take swift action to fully restore these important pro-growth tax provisions that will help get our economy back on track.”

Failure to preserve these tax provisions will threaten American jobs, stifle American innovation, and limit U.S. direct investment. The private sector is responsible for more than 75% of research and development investment in the United States, and on top of that, analysts project that with every $1 billion in R&D spending, 17,000 jobs are supported. Anti-growth interest deductibility provisions impose high costs on manufacturers that take away from the ability to hire and compensate the manufacturing workforce, as well as to invest in state-of-the-art facilities and equipment. Updating federal equipment expensing provisions will makes it easier for businesses to keep and build their manufacturing facilities here in Texas and across the nation, rather than becoming increasingly reliant on foreign countries like China.

+++