A national conservative group is finding liberal allies in its effort to keep industry-specific tax breaks from creeping back into the federal code, an advocate said Tuesday.
While on a visit to Baton Rouge Tuesday, Russ Latino with Americans for Prosperity said a number of industries are trying to get Congress to reinstate tax breaks that were eliminated when the corporate tax rate was lowered in 2017.
“It’s essentially like having your cake and eating it too,” he said. “Now that the rate’s lower, they’re coming back and trying to get a second bite at the apple.”
Latino said AFP has a high-profile partner in the fight against the tax breaks from the other side of the political spectrum: Richard Trumka, head of the AFL-CIO labor union coalition and chairman of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
“You see, particularly around the idea of corporate welfare and cronyism, a weird coalition emerge with both left and right groups,” Latino said.
He said AFP’s other national priority this year is ending the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Unless it is reauthorized, the bank’s charter will lapse at the end of September.
“It [provides] taxpayer-backed loans to only a handful of companies,” Latino said. “We call it ‘Boeing’s bank,’ because Boeing is far and away the largest recipient of these loans.”
The government gives terms far more generous than a commercial lender would, he said. Other critics argue the Ex-Im does not meaningfully increase American exports.
“We’re borrowing money from China to subsidize products that we’re selling back to China,” Latino said. “It just shouldn’t happen.”
Supporters of reauthorizing the Ex-Im Bank, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, say the agency provides financing and guarantees for U.S. exports that directly support American jobs at no cost to the taxpayer.
“Far from being a burden on the taxpayer or a subsidy for corporations, Ex-Im charges fees for its services that have generated $7 billion in revenue for the U.S. Treasury over the past 25 years above and beyond funds it received in appropriations,” says Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer with the U.S. Chamber. “Ex-Im enables U.S. companies large and small to turn export opportunities into real sales that support U.S. jobs as well as contribute to a stronger national economy.”
President Donald Trump bashed the Ex-Im during his 2016 campaign. But by 2017 he seemed to have changed his mind, noting that other nations support their companies in a similar fashion.
“It turns out that, first of all, lots of small companies are really helped, the vendor companies,” Trump said, according to published reports. “But also, maybe more important, other countries give [assistance]. When other countries give it we lose a tremendous amount of business.”
Latino said the measures AFP opposes likely will get attached to “must-pass” bills, such as a major appropriations bill.
“We actually think we may end up losing these fights,” he said. But getting the word out helps build support for the next time these issues come up, he added.
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