The Many Real Benefits Of a Lower Corporate Tax Rate

As the Senate moves forward on the tax bill debate, Senators should resist any impulse to turn to the corporate tax rate as a new source of revenue. The real world experience of the last seven years shows that the lower 21% rate has been enormously successful in increasing investment and growth, boosting wages and jobs and increasing U.S. global competitiveness.

A number of major U.S. companies have been sharing with Senate offices their specific real world examples of how the lower corporate tax rate helped contribute to increased investments in U.S. operations and increased wages and benefits for their employees. These stories show how the lower rate has benefited working people, small business suppliers, and local communities across the country.

Since the rate cut, Home Depot has invested $1.2 billion in expanding their supply chain capabilities, building over 100 warehouses nationwide, creating more than 18,000 jobs and improving customer service and efficiency. Since 2019, they have supported more than 7,700 small business suppliers, expanding local economies and jobs across the country. Home Depot has announced plans to build 80 more stores, with more than two dozen already opened, adding thousands of new jobs. 

Target has invested more than $50 billion into 120 new stores, hundreds of renovated stores, 25 new supply chain facilities, and 90,000 new employees. They have increased wages and benefits, with higher starting wages and enhanced benefits including improved employee access to health insurance coverage, and expanded paid leave, free mental health services, and tuition-free educational assistance. Target plans to build 300 more stores and renovate hundreds of others, creating thousands of new jobs.

Manufacturers have used the savings from tax reforms to invest in their facilities, create jobs, and grow the economy, as a recent report from NAM to Congress shows. Westminster Tool Company used the savings from the tax cut to grow its workforce by nearly 30% and provide wage increases of 45%.  Marlin Steel Wire Products has raised its wages by 50%, given employees pay raises and bonuses each of the last seven years, and increased contributions to its 401k retirement plan. Since the tax cuts, the company’s workforce has grown five times larger, increasing from 25 to 115 employees.

These are just a few examples of the real world benefits of the lower corporate rate. Other companies have made the same investments in their facilities and workforce, benefiting working families and improving the U.S. economy. The Senate needs to maintain the 21% rate to preserve the many economic benefits of the lower rate. Any increase in the  rate would harm American workers and companies, and the U.S. economy.Bru