PPAI has lent its voice on several issues of late that are relevant and important to small business and the promotional products industry. The Association recently signed on to two letters to the U.S. Congress, one with the Tariff Reform Coalition in support of the Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority (BCTA) Act of 2021 and a second one with a group of more than 100 trade associations pushing back against the Treasury Department’s new tax information reporting proposal.
The bipartisan BCTA Act amends Section 232 of the Trade Authority Act of 1962 to provide greater Congressional oversight of national security trade actions so that all national interests are taken into account prior to the imposition of quotas.
The BCTA legislation would require any future potential tariff sought by a president to be submitted to Congress, which would then have 60 days to pass an approval resolution supporting it. The bill also clarifies the term “national security” in a way that limits Section 232 investigations to goods with applications in military equipment, energy resources and critical infrastructure needs, directs the tariff exclusion process to be administered by the U.S. International Trade Commission and that all exclusions would be granted on a product-wide and not company-specific basis, and would allow Congress to reconsider executive branch tariffs and quotas which have been imposed under Section 232 within the past four years and if it does not pass an approval resolution, those tariffs and quotas would be repealed.
The Treasury Department’s proposed tax information proposal, which has gotten wide media exposure, has been put forward to help the IRS target wealthy tax dodgers. PPAI has joined with other trade groups in opposing the regulation as the broadly written proposal would directly impact almost every American and small business with an account at a financial institution, as the vast majority of accounts held at financial institutions would be captured by this reporting requirement.
Along with additional reporting requirements, the regulation has also drawn criticism for potential financial privacy concerns, increased tax preparation costs and the creation of significant operational challenges for financial institutions.