The National Retail Federation calls budget resolution first step toward tax reform that would “unleash economic growth.”
The National Retail Federation (NRF) this week urged the U.S. House of Representatives to approve the fiscal year 2018 budget resolution that is scheduled for a vote today, a move that would allow Congress to begin work on the nation’s first comprehensive tax reform in three decades.
“The FY 2018 budget resolution is an important first step toward tax reform that will unleash economic growth in the United States,” said David French, NRF’s senior vice president for government relations, said in a prepared statement.
The business organization projects that the tax reform proposal will boost the economy, helping small and large retailers as well as their customers, French said.
“The U.S. has the highest corporate income tax rate in the industrialized world, which causes U.S. companies to move investment out of the country and is a disincentive for foreign companies to make large investments here,” said French. “Reducing the corporate rate will help attract investment to the United States, which will help increase wages and increase consumer spending.”
PRAISING PLAN
French cited the plan released last week by President Trump and Republicans. French praised the plan’s proposal to reduce the federal corporate income tax rate to 20% from the current 35% and its proposal to tax small business “pass throughs” at 25%. He also welcomed the plan’s proposed doubling of the standard deduction and its increase in the child tax credit, saying both would benefit consumers.
French also cited a recent NRF analysis that found the average employee of a U.S. “C” corporation is paid $4,690 less per year because of high corporate taxes. The analysis said reducing the corporate tax rate to 20% could result in higher wages or the creation of between 500,000 and 1.5 million new jobs.
The 35% U.S. corporate tax rate is the highest in the industrialized world. Retailers benefit from few of the deductions and tax credits that lower tax bills for other industries, and pay at or close to the full amount.