By Darrell A. Hughes Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The National Association of Manufacturers on Thursday said that its highest priority will be pressing incoming lawmakers to reduce corporate tax rates, beginning with a proposal to prevent business tax cuts from expiring in 2010.
The next Congress "will have to make a decision," NAM President John Engler said. "If Congress is serious about improving our competitive standing in the world, I hope they'll look at this study and work to bring our corporate tax rates in line."
NAM released a study Thursday regarding business costs relating to corporate tax rates, employee benefit costs, tort litigation, pollution abatement and energy.
The study concludes that U.S. corporate tax rates are, on average, 7.8 percentage points higher than the nation's major trading partners. This contributes to limited global competitiveness for the U.S., NAM leaders said.
The U.S. corporate tax rate is 35%, but companies typically pay less because of credits and deductions.
Engler said several countries, including Canada, Hong Kong and South Africa, have cut their corporate tax rates, which theoretically sets the U.S. further behind.
The study said the overall structural cost of doing business in the U.S. is 17.6% higher than in nine of the country's major foreign competitors. This, however, is a decline from 31.7% in 2006.
Even with the decrease, Engler said "getting better is not the same as good."
"Think about it this way: Every time we send a product out to go anywhere in the world, to try and compete, we're starting out more than 17% behind," Engler said. "That's a big number...in the hyper-competitive world that we live in."
Engler said NAM's study provides timely information for new congressional leaders and President-elect Barack Obama as they make the transition into their posts.
-By Darrell A. Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6684; darrell.hughes@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 13, 2008 17:05 ET (22:05 GMT)

Publié le 13 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones