NWRA joined other associations on a letter to U.S. Senators urging them to oppose a tax on the financial statement income of certain businesses. This tax, known as the “book tax” would result in fewer jobs, decreased wages, and make it harder for American businesses to grow just as we are entering a period of recession. “It is clear that a book tax would threaten American competitiveness,” said NWRA President and CEO Darrell Smith. “We urge the Senate to oppose the book tax in the final reconciliation legislation.”
Accelerated depreciation – the ability to recover the cost of acquiring an asset over a short time span, sometimes as soon as the year of purchase – has been in the tax code in some form since at least 1958. This policy encourages companies to invest in capital assets, like machinery and equipment used by the waste and recycling industry, that power long-term economic growth. But unlike the tax code, the financial accounting rules upon which a book tax is based require depreciation over the useful life of an asset. As such, a book tax would effectively eliminate this long-established incentive to invest in the United States.