Tax Hikes Could Hurt Export Drive

In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama set an ambitious goal of doubling U.S. exports within five years. The expansion, he said, would help create 2 million new jobs. But Calvin M. Dooley, president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), an industry trade group, says that tax hikes included in the Administration's fiscal 2011 budget proposal will hurt U.S. exporters. "Contrary to the President's stated goal of doubling U.S. exports, the new taxes on companies that export would mean higher costs for U.S. producers and less ability to compete in the global market," Dooley says. The White House budget plan revives numerous proposals for business tax increases that failed to pass Congress last year, including a scaled-down plan to restrict the ability of multinational corporations to defer paying U.S. taxes on their overseas earnings. "The new taxes proposed by the Administration would mean fewer American jobs and less revenue at a time when we desperately need both," Dooley asserts. Although full data for 2009 are not yet available, ACC estimates that U.S. chemical manufacturers shipped about $155 billion worth of products overseas last year.