Nearly 400 industry professionals have joined PPAI in voicing their opposition to the proposed Border Adjustment Tax (BAT). The U.S. House Republican tax reform proposal poses a discriminatory tax on all imported products—including promotional products—and is anticipated to hurt American consumers and the nation’s largest employers by increasing the cost of everyday products. The BAT, which would function as a national sales tax, could drive the unemployment rate back to 2010 highs in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
PPAI staff have already traveled to Washington, D.C., this year to speak with members of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee to discuss the BAT, and the Association has joined Americans for Affordable Products, a growing coalition of more than 180 like-minded business leaders, corporations and industry groups, to oppose the tax. Most promotional products are manufactured overseas and imported to the U.S.
Upon passage, the BAT is expected to cost American families as much as $1,700, according to the National Retail Federation. Middle-class and low-income families who have seen their wages stagnate in recent years are most likely to bear the brunt of this new tax because they spend a larger share of their income on tradeable goods that would be hit by the BAT.
PPAI encourages industry members to contact their member of Congress and ask them to look for ways to reform our complicated tax code that won’t negatively affect American workers.