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October 26, 2010

MSCI Urges Congress to Pass Bush Tax Cut Extensions

October 26, 2010

MSCI Urges Congress to Pass Bush Tax Cut Extensions

ROLLING MEADOWS, Illinois, October 26, 2010 – The Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI), by a unanimous vote of its Executive Committee, will urge Congress to extend the so-called Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 when lawmakers reconvene following the November mid-term elections.

“Our economy remains very fragile, with extremely high unemployment, a record low level of construction, millions of foreclosures and tremendous uncertainty on the part of business about what blows may come next,” said Bill Jones, vice chairman of O’Neal Industries of Birmingham, Alabama, and also chairman of MSCI. “This is not the time to tip the balance in a negative way by going back to the much higher tax rates and rules of a decade ago. Raising taxes now would be like kicking Americans when they are down. That would be bad for every American, not just the wealthiest, and it could have ruinous consequences for a weak economy.”

The decision to support tax-cut extensions to keep taxes lower for all Americans becomes part of the broader, pro-business legislative agenda pursued by MSCI this year. Other elements of the agenda include support for legislation to respond to China’s ongoing currency manipulation; opposition to the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act, which would deny workers the right of secret balloting in union representation elections; opposition to legislation that seeks to infringe on the right of free speech for all Americans, including trade associations and businesses; support for LIFO accounting, and opposition to climate legislation that would impose higher costs and restrictions on domestic manufacturers without regard to whether our global competitors bear the same cost.

“MSCI’s positions are always consistent with our pro-business, pro-manufacturing point of view,” said M. Robert Weidner, III, MSCI’s president and CEO. “The well-being of the metals industry is central to the well-being of our economy as a whole. Company after company in our industry, be they producers of steel, stainless and aluminum or distributors and first-stage fabricators, report an environment of precarious economic recovery. It makes no sense in this environment to punish business and business people with tax increases.”

Founded in 1909, the Metals Service Center Institute has more than 360 members operating from about 1,200 locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and elsewhere in the world. Together, MSCI members constitute the largest single group of metals purchasers in North America, amounting each year to more than 55 million tons of steel, aluminum, and other metals, with about 300,000 manufacturers and fabricators as customers. MSCI’s membership also includes almost all ferrous and non-ferrous industrial metals producers in North America. Metals service centers inventory and distribute metals and provide first-stage fabrication services.

Contacts:

Bob Weidner, president and CEO, 847-485-3002

Jon Kalkwarf, vice president and CFO, 847-485-3007

Bill Jones, chairman, 205-599-8000

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