A collection of well over 100 businesses and trade associations that represent millions of American jobs recently announced a new coalition to stop the Border Adjustment Tax or BAT. Americans for Affordable Products (AAP) will run a national campaign to engage consumers and show lawmakers that pursuing tax policy that will result in higher costs for their customers on everyday items including food, gas and clothing is the wrong approach.
The BAT is a component of the US House Republican tax reform proposal, and will significantly hurt American consumers and the nation's largest employers by increasing the cost of everyday products by up to 20%.
"As a business owner who works every day to add value to my customers and serve the needs of families, I am deeply concerned about the Border Adjustment Tax. Without question, it will increase prices paid by consumers and threaten the existence of companies like ours. We need Members of Congress to listen to the urgent objections of small business job creators and stop this giveaway to big corporations at the expense of middle income and working class families," said Learning Resources, Inc. Chairman Rick Woldenberg.
Consumer Technology Association (CTA) President and CEO Gary Shapiro commented, "While well intended, a proposed Border Adjustment Tax could increase prices on a wide range of basic consumer goods, hitting the pocketbooks of middle class Americans. We urge policymakers to incentivize US manufacturing in ways that don't hurt the hundreds of thousands of American businesses who employ millions of American workers."
"The retail industry pays among the highest effective tax rates of all industries. We, therefore, enthusiastically support reforming the current tax code and welcome the fact that both the President and Congress do so as well. However, the Border Adjustment Tax is harmful, untested, and would put American retail jobs at risk and force consumers to pay as much as 20% more for family essentials. We are committed to working with Congress to ensure they understand the impact of this proposal, and to pursue tax reform that reduces rates and benefits American consumers," stated Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) President Sandy Kennedy.
National Retail Federation (NRF) President and CEO Matthew Shay concluded, "Whether it's the automobile you drive, the gasoline you use, the groceries you put on the table, or the shoes and the clothes you put on your feet and back, the prices of all of those things will get driven up by the Border Adjustment Tax. Consumers ultimately are the losers from any effort to tax imports because the economy in the United States is driven by consumers. There are plenty of taxes already on hard working Americans and the retailers that serve them, and higher prices just add to that burden. We support creating a less complicated, more straightforward and equitable tax code, and will work with both the Administration and Congress to achieve that goal, but the Border Adjustment Tax is not the answer. Some may consider this a better way forward, but it is definitely not the best way."
American consumers oppose a policy that exempts exports from being taxed while taxing imports because of the real-life impact it will have on their everyday lives and household budgets. For example, according to the NRF, upon passage, the BAT will cost American families as much as $1,700.
While members of AAP oppose the BAT, they recognize the hard work by Members of Congress to reform the tax code and support provisions such as lowering the overall corporate tax rate and the territorial tax approach, which limits taxes on US companies to income earned only in the United States.
(Source: Americans for Affordable Products)
