WASHINGTON – The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) on Friday sent a letter to members of the House Ways and Means Committee urging the support of common sense policies within the committee's jurisdiction. They listed research and development (R&D) expensing as their first tax priority, which is addressed by legislation previously introduced by Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kansas).
"As you embark on what will no doubt be a busy agenda for the Ways and Means Committee in the 118th session of Congress, we wish to offer some initial taxpayer considerations on the policies and oversight priorities the Committee should pursue in 2023 and beyond," NTU wrote.
The letter continued, "Among our top tax policy priorities for 2023 are: Permanently allowing businesses to fully and immediately expense their research and development (R&D) expenditures, reversing a switch to five-year amortization that took effect on January 1, 2022; 22 other taxpayer, free-market, and consumer advocacy organizations support this broadly bipartisan initiative led by Reps. Ron Estes (R-KS) and John Larson (D-CT)."
This is not the first time NTU has recognized the importance of R&D expensing. In 2020, NTU included Rep. Estes' bipartisan legislation in the 10th installment of their “No Brainers” List, a collection of 10 bills that NTU deems as "no-brainer" bills that have bipartisan support and should be easily passed by Congress. While NTU doesn't allow repeats on their annual list, they did include it as an honorable mention in their 2021 list.
In 2020, the Tax Foundation said immediate expensing of all investments, including R&D expensing, is the number one federal reform Congress can take to encourage economic recovery after COVID-19. Rep. Estes is working to reintroduce the American Innovation and R&D Competitiveness Act this Congress.
