House Members Push For R&D Credit
More than 100 House members on both sides of the aisle are urging congressional leaders to renew and bolster the expired research and development tax credit as part of upcoming jobs legislation, and an effort is building on the Senate side as well, CongressDaily reported.
A massive tax and safety-net extension package headed to the Senate floor next week would renew the research credit through the end of 2010. Business groups including manufacturers and the high-tech industry also are pushing to boost the value of the credit to help U.S. firms compete with larger benefits offered to global rivals.
"It is estimated that an expansion of the credit would lead to an additional $90 billion in annual GDP, a significant increase in patents generated by American inventors, and generation of additional revenues for the Treasury through economic growth," according to a letter from Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, sent to leaders Thursday. "With this bipartisan support for this initiative, we believe it should be part of any future efforts considered by Congress this year to spur economic growth, and we urge you to work with the administration to renew this important job-creating incentive as soon as possible."
On the Senate side, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, is leading the charge to attach the proposal to a jobs bill in that chamber. "Expanding the R&D credit is a perfect candidate for one of these jobs bills. It leads to job creation in the short term, while stimulating innovation that leads to long term economic growth," said Ralph Hellmann, senior vice president of the Information Technology Industry Council.
Categories:
Congress
Join the Discussion
The National Journal Group has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.
Comments powered by Disqus