Trump’s tax law after one year hasn’t affected most firms’ investment plans: survey

A little more than a year after President Trump signed his tax-cut bill into law, most firms haven’t altered their hiring or investment plans as a result of the measure, according to a survey released Monday.

Eighty-four percent of respondents in the the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) poll said the tax law hasn’t caused their firm to make changes to hiring or investment. That figure is slightly higher than the 81 percent in the October survey.

{mosads}However, a number of NABE members in the goods-producing sector — which includes agriculture, construction and manufacturing — reported changes to hiring and investment plans due to the tax law. In the new survey, 10 percent of those respondents reported accelerated hiring, and 50 percent reported increased investments.

The tax law that Trump signed in December 2017 slashed the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent and made significant changes to how the U.S. taxes American companies’ foreign earnings.

A number of business groups and Trump administration officials have argued that the tax law is boosting the economy and meeting expectations. But Democrats contend that the law is helping wealthy people and corporations at the expense of the middle class, and polls have found that many voters haven’t noticed any changes in their paychecks as a result of the law.

NABE’s survey found that most respondents don’t think there will be a recession in the next year, with 64 percent expecting that gross domestic product (GDP) will expand between 2.1 percent to 3 percent. Fewer respondents in the new survey said they expect a GDP increase in the next four quarters of more than 3 percent.

NABE surveyed 106 of its members who work at private-sector companies or industry trade associations. The survey was conducted between Dec. 17 and Jan. 9.