In Significant Shift, GOP House Leaders Say They Would Preserve LIFO

The Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) received some very good news from Washington, DC last week when U.S. House Republicans issued their proposed federal tax reform plan. 

The outline specifically called for the retention of last in, first out (LIFO), a position MSCI strongly supports and has advocated for on Capitol Hill. The GOP proposal says, “With respect to inventory, the Blueprint will preserve the last-in-first-out (LIFO) method of accounting. The Committee on Ways and Means will continue to evaluate options for making the treatment of inventory more effective and efficient in the context of this new tax system.” 

While the proposal is obviously not a piece of legislation, it does represent a significant reversal of previous GOP tax reform proposals that called for LIFO repeal. This shift is clearly a direct result of the effort MSCI and its partners at the LIFO Coalition made over the last several years to educate legislators about this issue and the impact it would have on the metals and broader manufacturing industry. 

A full copy of the tax reform plan is available online. 

The GOP outline also calls for a reduction, from 35 percent to 20 percent, in the federal corporate income tax rate. It also would reduce the number of personal income tax rate brackets from seven to three and lower the top personal rate from 39.6 percent to 33 percent.