Senate Dems: How will tax reform affect manufacturing?

Tax writers should know how any proposed overhaul of the U.S. tax code would affect the manufacturing industry, a group of Senate Democrats said Thursday.

Sens. Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Bob Casey (Pa.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.) – all members of the Senate Finance Committee – said in a letter that tax reform legislation that chops away at manufacturing provisions could put the sector in a worse position.

“Incentives for domestic investment are vital to domestic job creation. Many of these provisions have been essential to the creation of good-paying jobs, including domestic manufacturing jobs, which have grown the U.S. economy and the middle class,” the four Democrats wrote to Tom Barthold, the head of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT).

“We believe that if tax reform eliminates these important tax provisions, it could adversely affect sectors of the economy that demand new domestic capital investment and that create and support good-paying jobs.”

The four tax writers specifically request that JCT do a thorough analysis of any tax reform bill that gets rolled out, to see how it affects different sectors of the economy.

Both Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) have said that they’re pressing ahead with their efforts on tax reform, with Camp still insisting his panel will mark up a bill this year.

But the two also have to bridge deep divides between the parties, including over whether a rewritten code should raise more revenue, that has left many on and off Capitol Hill skeptical that they can complete legislation before the end of the current Congress.