U.S. Senate Could Vote On Tax And Spending Bill This Month, So Make Your Voice Heard

According to several news reports, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is edging closer to bringing the White House’s Build Back Better plan, or portions of it, to the Senate floor for a vote.

As a reminder, this legislation that would expand so-called “human infrastructure” spending programs like childcare and housing and pay for it with billions of dollars in tax hikes that would have an outsized impact on U.S. businesses, and smaller companies in particular.

According to research from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) under a plan that would raise several business taxes:

• Total employment, measured by hours worked, would fall by 0.7 percent initially before moderating. The reduction in hours worked would be equivalent to an employment decline of approximately one million full-time jobs in 2023.
• The average annual reduction in employment would be equivalent to a loss of 600,000 jobs each year over 10 years.
• By 2023, gross domestic product would be down by $117 billion, by $190 billion in 2026, and by $119 billion in 2031.
• Ordinary capital, or investments in equipment and structures, would be $80 billion less in 2023 and $83 billion and $66 billion less in 2026 and 2031, respectively.
• Investments in intangibles, or “firm-specific capital” would fall 2.7 percent by year two and would be down a total of 3.8 percent by year five.
• Real wages would fall by 0.6 percent in the long run and total labor compensation, including wages and benefits, would decline by 0.6 percent initially before falling by 0.3 percent after 10 years. In the long run, total compensation would also decline by 0.6 percent.

MSCI asks that its member company leaders and employers use this link from NAM or this link from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to send a letter to their lawmakers asking that they oppose this legislation.