Input Stories

Even before this morning’s actions, the NAM was getting the message out on the urgent need to act on tax reform amid economic uncertainty.

Tax reform’s benefits: Just after President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, Ohio’s economy took off, NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons and Ohio Manufacturers’ Association President Ryan Augsburger wrote in a recent Columbus Dispatch op-ed.

• “In 2018 alone, manufacturing had its best job creation year in more than two decades. Wages rose and capital investment surged—up 4.5% in 2018 and 5.7% in 2019. Ohio’s manufacturers used those savings to expand, hire and invest more.”

The threat: Some key provisions enacted in 2017 have expired already, and many more are scheduled to do so this year. This will do enormous damage to manufacturers across America, as the NAM and the OMA emphasized during the NAM’s Competing to Win tour stop in Ohio last month.  

• “If Congress fails to renew tax reform, America stands to lose 6 million jobs—including 1.1 million in manufacturing—according to a new NAM and EY study. The economy could take a $1.1 trillion hit, and in Ohio alone, 208,000 jobs and $18.9 billion in wages are at risk,” Timmons and Augsburger wrote.

Tariffs on top: With the economic environment already uncertain due to the potential expiration of these tax provisions, tariffs will only add greater instability, Timmons and Augsburger argued.

• Manufacturers rely on the U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement, which enabled huge growth in North American trade—with one-third of critical manufacturing inputs coming to the U.S. from Canada and Mexico, instead of China.
• “But if tariffs continue, we need a commonsense trade policy—one that provides manufacturers with certainty to plan, invest and grow. That means a strategic approach that phases in gradually, allowing businesses time to adjust and expand production.”

Congress must act: Policymakers must act today to give manufacturers certainty on tax policy, as the Trump administration reformulates American trade policy.

• “That means maintaining the 21% corporate rate, preserving the 20% pass-through deduction and protecting the reduced individual rates. It means restoring full R&D expensing, enhancing interest deductions and ensuring full capital expensing for new equipment and machinery,” Timmons and Augsburger said.

The bottom line: “[T]ax reform doesn’t just benefit manufacturers—it benefits workers, families and communities. It determines whether a worker gets a raise or loses a job, whether a family can afford a home or struggles to get by, and whether a community thrives or watches businesses shutter.”

• “Voters sent a clear message: they expect action for a stronger economy and more jobs in the United States. We need a commonsense, coordinated, comprehensive manufacturing strategy.”