Count the Associated Builders and Contractors as among the supporters of President Donald Trump’s tax reform plan.
Michael D. Bellaman, president and CEO of the group of nonunion contracting firms, said the White House plan to slash corporate and individual tax rates will help his members and the overall economy.
“President Trump’s tax framework promises the lowest small business tax rate in the last 80 years, which would unlock the full economic potential of the 21,000 members of Associated Builders and Contractors,” Bellaman said. “A growing economy means a thriving construction industry — when businesses are able to reinvest in wages, jobs, and expansion, ABC members are there to do the work.”
Trump’s tax plan would replace the seven current income tax brackets with just three: 12 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent. It would double the standard deduction and lowers the tax rates for corporations and family-owned businesses. It also eliminates some deductions.
The construction industry is overtaxed, Bellaman said.
“According to analysis by the U.S. Department of Treasury, the construction industry pays the highest effective tax rate of any sector of the nation’s economy —27 percent, compared to an average of 22 percent for other industries,” he said. “Reducing the tax burden on pass-through businesses through tax reform is essential to addressing this disparity. ABC members are overwhelmingly small, family-owned and closely held merit shop construction firms that want meaningful tax reforms that ensure fair, equitable treatment of all businesses regardless of size, structure or sector. The framework and its targets go a long way toward advancing ABC's tax policy goals.”