More than 500 organizations representing millions of individuals and the entire U.S. economy on Tuesday joined the Business Council of Alabama in urging Congress to pass needed tax extenders during the Lame Duck session currently under way.

“These tax provisions are critically important to U.S. jobs and the broader economy,” state the letters sent by the National Association of Manufacturers and signed by the BCA and more than 500 other businesses, community development organizations, and non-profit groups.

The groups include businesses large and small, railroads, transportation, manufacturers, and retailers – virtually the entire U.S. economy. The groups are listed on a full-page ad that urges Congress to act.

Letters were delivered to members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The letters state the urgent need to extend or make permanent expired or soon-to-expire tax provisions.

“Failure to extend these provisions is a tax increase,” the letters state. “It will inject instability and uncertainty into the economy and weaken confidence in the employment marketplace.”

More than four dozen of the tax extenders expired at the end of 2013 or will end this year. Businesses need action in order to provide tax, budget and operation planning.

“The expired provisions should be renewed as soon as possible this year to enable implementation in time for the normal tax filing season,” the letters state. “A delay in the tax filing season will delay tax refund checks and spending decisions, resulting in an immediate negative impact on the economy.”

The National Association of Manufacturers’ vice president of tax and fiscal policy, Dorothy Coleman, in a Tuesday conference call, said failure to extend the provisions would amount to a tax increase on the nation’s economy. “Tax increases are the last thing we need in an economy that is not where we should be,” she said.

Renewing the tax extenders will provide certainty and predictability for manufacturers until Congress can act on comprehensive tax reform," Coleman said in a statement. "The R&D credit, investment incentives for manufacturers of all sizes and provisions that affect U.S. global companies are all key to helping manufacturers innovate, compete in a global marketplace and contribute to U.S. economic growth and job creation."

Coleman said delay until 2015, even making the extenders retroactive, doesn’t solve anything because delay would limit the impact on business investment, create burdens for the Internal Revenue Service, and complicate companies’ financial reporting.
The BCA is the exclusive representative in Alabama of the National Association of Manufacturers, which also signed the letters.

By Dana Beyerle, Business Council of Alabama