Reconciliation Bill Hits Coal, Manufacturing Hardest
Washington, D.C. – In December, Joe Manchin said: “If I can’t go back home and explain it, I can’t vote for it.” Upon review of the bill, it’s hard to see how it is remotely possible to do so, especially to West Virginians working in the coal and manufacturing industries.
Yesterday, a coalition representing coal workers blasted Manchin’s tax and spend bill saying it will “serve to severely threaten American coal and the $261 billion of annual revenues that it produces for the nation’s overall economy and attendant 381,000 American jobs.”
Ouch.
Read more from Fox Business on Joe Manchin and Senate Dems’ attack on American energy workers:
“And Manchin is going to have to explain to the people of West Virginia, the second-largest coal producer in the nation, why he ended up supporting a bill that will hit them the hardest, according to a study by the Tax Foundation.
The 15% corporate alternative minimum tax, which is applied to the financial statement income that companies report to their investors, will impose a net tax hike of 7.2% on the coal industry’s pretax book income, which is higher than any other industry, the Tax Foundation report said. The second-hardest hit by the tax, according to the study, is in automobile and truck manufacturing, which faces a 5.1 percent tax hike.
Moreover, Section 13901 of the new bill strikes a subsection of the U.S. tax code that reduces the tax on coal production, meaning the rate of tax on coal from underground mines will increase from $0.50 to $1.10, and the rate of tax on coal from surface mines will increase from $0.25 to $0.55.”
Tax hikes during a recession are never a good idea, but when they target the American energy and manufacturing sectors that are in need of revival, the idea becomes much worse.
Oh, and lest we forget, the bill will not bring down inflation – the namesake of the bill.
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