Nov 6, 2017

“Q&A: What The GOP Tax Plan Means For Distributors & Manufacturers” By Mike Hockett, Manufacturing.net In late September, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans unveiled an outline of a proposed tax plan that Trump has boasted as the largest in U.S. history. On Sept. 29, Trump provided the broad strokes of that plan in a speech to the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington D.C., with the $6 trillion plan including significant tax cuts for corporations, simplified tax brackets and nearly double the standard deduction used by most tax filers. However, the finer details of the plan are still largely unknown by the general public. Aside from a 2015-2016 industrial recession, industrial distributors and suppliers have often cited tax burdens and regulations as hurdles to business growth, so those companies would be wise to keep tabs on what a new tax plan would involve for them. ID recently spoke with Jim Brandenburg, Tax Partner at Sikich LLP, about what Trump’s tax plan means for manufacturing, especially for distributors. Brandenburg’s extensive knowledge of tax legislation and experience working with distributors and manufacturers give him a unique perspective discussing current tax impacts and what future implications could be of the proposed tax plan. ID: From what you’re hearing, what are distributors and manufacturers’ biggest criticisms/pain points with the current tax structure/regulations? Jim Brandenburg: High tax rates and uncertainty regarding tax policy and various tax provisions are ongoing pain points for manufacturers and distributors. Uncertainty stems from the fact that many benefits that enable a company to reduce their annual tax burden are not permanent, which hinders a company’s ability to plan too far into the future. For example, under current law, bonus depreciation, which allows companies to immediately deduct the cost of newly purchased assets (e.g., machinery and equipment), is set to be reduced in 2018, reduced again in 2019 and then expire in 2020.  The tax reform debate creates additional uncertainty and leaves companies in a holding pattern as they wait and see whether any legislation will pass at all and, if so, what form the final legislation will take. However, manufacturers and distributors have long sought lower tax rates and would welcome the decrease in the corporate and small business pass-through...

Aug 24, 2017

“How Wages, Taxes, and American Value are Reshoring US Manufacturing Jobs” By Paul Carlson, CliftonLarsonAllen The flow of American manufacturing jobs overseas has peaked and is now reversing as U.S. companies find more than just economic reasons to bring them back home. Over the past few decades, the United States has lost as many as 4 million manufacturing jobs to foreign nations as companies look for ways to reduce costs. But the overseas manufacturing landscape is changing significantly. The emerging market wage difference that existed when the decision was made to offshore manufacturing is now dwindling, and in the past few years the costs of production have been increasing. This, in turn, has led to a growing number of companies reshoring — bringing manufacturing back to the United States. Catch the reshoring wave According to the 2016 Reshoring Report from the Reshoring Initiative — an organization working to return manufacturing jobs to the United States — more jobs are returning to the United States than are going abroad. “We publish this data annually to show companies that their peers are successfully reshoring and that they should reevaluate their sourcing and siting decisions,” says Harry Moser, founder and president of the Reshoring Initiative, in a May 15, 2017, statement. “With 3 to 4 million manufacturing jobs still offshore, as measured by our $500 billion annual trade deficit, there is potential for much more growth.” The report found that 77,000 new reshoring and foreign direct investment (FDI) manufacturing jobs were created in 2016. This is a 500 percent increase from the low of 2000 – 2003, when only 12,000 jobs were created on average annually. Overall, it is estimated that a net 25,000 new jobs were created in 2016. Jobs are returning from Asia Most of the jobs being reshored are from Asian countries, where 138,450 jobs have already been brought back to the United States. Of those jobs, most came from China. During the 2010 to 2016 timeframe, China accounted for approximately 60 percent of all manufacturing jobs created by reshoring and FDI. One of the biggest reasons for this trend is the shrinking wage benefit in China. Since 2001, the hourly Chinese manufacturing has risen by approximately 12 percent a year on...

Aug 11, 2017

By Jay Moon, Executive Director of the Mississippi Manufacturer’s Association Delta Business Journal Manufacturing in the United States is poised for a renaissance not seen at any other time in recent history. The past decade has seen new investments in automation and efficiencies that have significantly increased industrial productivity. Added to these rapid technological advancements, new proposals by the Trump administration promise to make U.S. based manufacturing more globally competitive. These proposals, if enacted, will once again position American’s industrial sector as the driving force of our economy. The three broad categories of reform—regulatory relief, tax adjustment and infrastructure investment—individually and collectively, will position America’s manufacturing base to remain globally competitive. After years of increasingly onerous, and expensive, regulations being forced on business and industry by unelected bureaucrats in Washington, Congress and the Trump administration have begun to rescind or drastically scale back these mandates. According to a recent study by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), “Since 2009, 637 major new regulations—defined as having an annual effect on the economy of at least $100 million—have been issued through October 2016.” Considering that manufacturers were the frequent target of these regulations, each new rule translated into increased compliance costs that put our companies at a major disadvantage with their global competitors. By removing these barriers to success, our nation’s manufacturers can begin to operate under a regulatory process that is both fair and scientifically based. Similarly, our current tax system puts American manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage. We have the highest corporate tax rate among developed countries. When this rate is combined with state taxes, manufacturers face an aggregate tax burden that can reach 40 percent or higher. In addition to a high tax rate on profitability, manufacturers have to contend with dozens of additional taxes at the federal, state and local levels that impact their bottom line. Fortunately, leadership in Congress is focused on advancing pro-growth, pro-competitive tax reform policies that will strengthen our economy, create jobs and promote investment in America. This comprehensive approach to tax reform, which has not happened since the mid-1980s, will be the catalyst to allow U.S. companies to compete effectively in the 21st century world economy. Equally as...

Jan 24, 2017

Press Release: CPA Supports President Trump’s Executive Order to Withdraw US from TPP The Coalition for a Prosperous America Washington~In his first day of office, President Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the US from Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. “It’s a great thing for the American worker, what we just did,” said President Trump while signing order. This executive order fulfills a campaign promise to rewrite America’s trade policy during his first days as president. CPA supports the executive order and applauds President Trump for holding true to his campaign promises. “President Trump’s fulfillment of his campaign promise to withdraw from the TPP shows he is serious about trade reform,” said Michael Stumo, CEO of CPA. “We look forward to working with the administration to balance trade, grow our manufacturing and agricultural supply chains and protect our sovereignty.” “This is very good news as a first step on a long road for bringing jobs in the factory and the farm back to the USA,” said Brian O’Shaughnessy, CPA Chief Co-Chair and Co-Chair for Mfg. “The TPP has no language to offset currency manipulation, border adjustable tariffs and extends the power of foreign tribunals to force our country to change our laws to conform to their wishes.” “TPP would be a ‘more of the same’ in a long line failed trade deals,” said Dan DiMicco, CPA Board of Director. “Trump is right to withdraw and it should not be resurrected.” CPA and other organizations have drafted a document listing 13 principles that should be included in all future trade agreements: Balanced Trade:Trade agreements must contribute to a national goal of achieving a manageable balance of trade over time. National Trade, Economic and Security Strategy:Trade agreements must strive to optimize value added supply sustained growth Reciprocity:Trade agreements must ensure that foreign country policies and practices as well as their tariff and non-tariff barriers provide fully reciprocal access for U.S. goods and services. The agreements must provide that no new barriers or subsidies outside the scope of the agreement nullify or impair the concessions bargained for. State Owned Commercial Enterprises:Trade agreements must encourage the transformation of state owned and state controlled commercial enterprises (SOEs) to private sector...

Apr 15, 2015

By Drew Greenblatt, Marlin Steel, Inc. It is time to urge Washington to reform our tax code to let companies bring home cash they earned and already paid taxes on so they can invest back home. Friday, GE announced a massive restructuring to focus on manufacturing and divest itself its finance arm, GE Capital. Part of the transaction is bringing home $36 billion dollars stuck in overseas banks back to the USA incurring a new $6 billion tax on money that was already taxed overseas. Ouch–$6 billion tax bills hurt. GE has postponed bringing this money home for years because of this extra tax. Stryker and Ebay recently bit the bullet and paid stiff taxes to bring home money. Here is the problem, GE like the other 999 largest US companies are not bringing their cash hordes home that amount to over $2.3 trillion because it will get hit with an outrageous 35% levy. This is over 9% of their assets are sitting overseas that is not put to its highest and best use. We are the only industrialized country that does this. This shortsighted tax hurts Americans bad. This unique tax causes a series of big problems for Americans because our companies don’t bring home money and they let it sit in overseas banks. We want our companies using this cash now investing in their factories. Our manufacturing would be more successful with the latest tools and resilient for future economic shocks. Ready for a painful grimace–our tax system encourages our companies to actually invest in foreign plants and companies rather than taking a 35% penalty to bring it home. We want US corporate titans encouraged to invest here and not overseas. Americans will be the biggest beneficiaries of this money coming home since companies will invest in their local factories so they are more competitive or create new product lines. Some skeptics say the companies will use the money for share buybacks or dividends. Cash used to pay dividends helps fund pension funds (owners of domestic company stock) and sweeps through our economy to find more productive uses (vs sitting in a foreign bank). It is time to urge Washington to reform...