As major users of our nation’s energy supply, manufacturers support a strategy that embraces all forms of domestic energy production. Oil, natural gas and clean coal remain essential contributors to America’s energy security and alternative fuels and renewable energy sources like wind energy and solar power will be increasingly important in the future.

Kudos to Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) for recognizing the importance to our energy supply of investments in renewable energy by introducing The Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act (S. 3275).  Master limited partnership (MLPs) are business entities that are taxed as partnerships but are traded like corporate stock.

In the past, MLPs have only been available to investors in energy portfolios for oil, natural gas, coal extraction, and pipeline projects. Sen. Coons’ bill also will allow investors in renewable energy projects to form MLPs, providing renewable energy projects with access to lower cost capital and more liquid financing.

 We’re pleased to hear that early next month members of the House of Representatives will have the opportunity to vote to “excise” from the Internal Revenue Code, a new tax on medical devices set to begin in 2013. This ill-conceived 2.3 percent tax on gross sales of medical devices manufacturers was part of the health care reform law.

By increasing the costs of medical devices, the excise tax will hurt the companies and their workers and also stifle the research and innovation that leads to the development of medical products that contribute to the health and well-being of all Americans.

Moreover, as today’s Wall Street Journal points out, perhaps the most damaging impact of the excise tax is on U.S. competitiveness. With Europe, Israel and Asia working hard to take over the United States’ lead in the life sciences, a tax like this will only make their job easier. Let’s hope the House gets the ball rolling and Congress sends a bill to the White House as soon as possible that would stop this job-killing tax before it even starts.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) yesterday confirmed what manufacturers have been saying for a long time: cancelling the spending cuts and tax increases set to go into effect on January 1, 2013, will stimulate much-needed economic growth and job creation. 

The CBO’s report , “Economic Effects of Reducing the Fiscal Restraint that Is Scheduled to Occur in 2013,” concludes that ,if Congress derails the spending cuts under sequestration and extends current tax relief provisions, GDP will grow at a 4.4 percent rate in 2013, raising employment by two million jobs, on average.  Conversely, doing nothing and allowing some $607 billion of across-the-board spending cuts and tax increases to hit our economy will stop our economic recovery in its tracks, sending the country back into a recession.

In fact, CBO estimates that if we fall off the $600B fiscal cliff, the economy will contract by 1.3 percent in the first quarter of 2013 and overall growth in 2013 will be about 0.5 percent.  As CBO does point out, though, the short-term benefits of avoiding the fiscal cliff doesn’t eliminate the need for policy makers to make a serious effort to address our nation’s long-term debt and deficit challenges, a position shared by manufacturers. Congress and the Administration need make the hard decisions on tax and entitlement reforms and spending policy to put the nation on a long-term path to growth and job creation.

NAM members have long held that the U.S. tax code represents a drain on our economy and any long-term plan to address our nation’s fiscal challenges should include comprehensive reform of the tax code that encourages job creation, investment and growth.

When it comes to tax policy, we couldn’t agree more that This Is No Time For The U.S. To Hesitate On Corporate Tax Reform, an editorial by Walt Galvin, vice chairman of Emerson that appeared in today’s Investors’ Business Daily.  Earlier this month, the United States earned the dubious distinction of having the no.1 corporate tax rate among developed countries, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the Japanese, who previously held the top spot.  As Mr. Galvin notes, Mieko Nakabayashi, a member of Japan’s House of Representatives recently commented on the failure of the United States to address our high corporate tax rate and archaic worldwide tax system and said that the United States “will suffer from that hesitancy while we and others outside the U.S. will benefit.”

While our numero uno tax rate generally grabs the headlines, both Mr. Nakabayashi and Mr. Galvin point out another major problem with our current tax code—a worldwide tax system that subjects income earned by U.S. companies and taxpayers to U.S. tax no matter where the income is earned.  In contrast, our major trading partners, including Japan, have adopted territorial tax systems that only taxes income earned in the home country.

Tax policy plays a critical role in the ability of companies to prosper, compete and create jobs.  In recent years, our trading partners have gotten the message and slashed tax rates and moved to tax systems that encourage global competitiveness. We can’t afford to drag our feet any longer—now’s the time to reform our tax laws, not only for corporations but for businesses of all sizes.

Even though Senate Democratic leaders last night fell nine short of the 60 votes needed to begin debate on the so-called “Buffett rule,” this probably is not the last we witness this ill-conceived tax policy stunt. The legislation (S. 2230) introduced by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) incorporates the President’s proposal to ensure that taxpayers earning above $1 million pay a minimum tax rate.  The “Buffett Rule” moniker comes from comments m de by legendary investor Warren Buffett that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. Frankly, it should be renamed as the “Buffett Tax Hike.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) was the only Republican to support the bill.  Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) was the only Democrat to oppose it.  Sens. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Joseph Lieberman (ID-CT) did not vote. The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimates that the bill would raise almost $47 billion over 10 years. 

In the run-up to last night’s debate on the procedural vote to move forward, NAM sent a letter to all members of the Senate, expressing our strong opposition to the mis-named  “Paying a Fair Share Act” that actually would place a new punitive tax on our nation’s small business owners and job creators. While NAM members believe that reform of our anti-growth tax system is critical, we disagree with the Administration that the new “Buffett tax,” would improve our tax system. In fact, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) made some great comments on the Senate floor before the vote, debunking any thought that this is fair, pro-growth tax policy.

According to Sen. Toomey, “It’s a political gimmick… not a serious effort to deal with a ridiculously broken tax code….We have a tax debt that’s ridiculous. It is impossible to understand; counterproductive to economic growth; badly needs a complete overhaul that would simplify this code, get rid of unfairness, broaden the base and encourage economic growth. Instead we’ve got this little gimmick because we don’t have the political leadership to deal with the underlying real problem of a badly-flawed tax code.

We can’t agree more with Sen. Toomey that Senate last night wasted their time “ arguing about this political stunt.”  Unfortunately, it looks like we can look forward to more time-wasting debate this year.  Even before last night’s vote, Senate Finance Committee member Chuck Schumer (D-NY) suggested that the White House and congressional Democrats intend to keep the “Buffett rule” alive at least through November.  And in future votes, the stakes might be higher.  According to Sen. Schumer,  Democrats may propose using the estimated $47 billion that proposal would generate over 10 years to pay for things like the research and development tax credits and deficit reduction.  If Democrats are serious about advancing these important issues, let’s abandon the “political stunts” and work with the other side to advance pro-growth, pro-manufacturing tax changes.

Like columnists Jim Carter and Jason Filchner, manufacturers are buoyed that Presidential candidates—on both sides of the aisle—are talking about reforming our nation’s tax code.  As Carter and Fichtner point out in their March 6^th op ed in Investors’ Business Daily, our corporate tax rate needs to be lowered to a level more in line with our competitors’—for us, that’s 25 percent or lower. 

We also need to move from our “worldwide” tax system to a more competitive territorial system like those used by our major trading partners. And we shouldn’t stop there.  Our overall tax code needs to be simpler, more transparent, permanent, predictable and efficient.

While all of the candidates recognize the need for tax reform—and some have ideas very similar to Manufacturers—we need to ensure that tax reform is not just an issue for the campaign trail but an action item for the new Administration.

Manufacturers were disappointed to hear the President, once again, call for increased taxes on energy companies during his speech today in North Carolina. Despite growing anxiety in recent weeks about the increasing cost of gasoline and predictions of $5 a gallon gas, the Administration continues to push for punitive tax increases on the oil and gas industry.

The increased costs actually would make a bad situation worse by discouraging oil and gas investments in the United States, increasing energy costs and making us less competitive and threatening job creation and the broader economy. The NAM has long held that the debate about energy policy should focus on enhancing America’s energy security by encouraging new investments in affordable sources of energy, not with new and higher taxes.

American manufacturers are focused on investment, expansion and job creation.  One important way to do this is by expanding their customer base. And, with 95 percent percent of the world’s population outside the United States, it is not surprising that American companies are looking at markets outside the United States.  More business translates into more jobs and stronger companies.  So why is the Administration so intent on punishing companies that operate in the global market place?  A new video from the Tax Foundation explains in simple terms how overseas business benefits U.S. companies and their workers and how, in contrast, misguided U.S. tax policies make it much harder for them to compete.

Despite what many would like you to think, U.S. companies shoulder a larger tax burden than their counterparts overseas.  There’s a lot of focus in Washington on the statutory federal corporate tax rate, which , at 35 percent, will be the highest among industrialized countries as of April 1, but that’s only part of the equation. 

When you factor in business deductions and credits, the average 28 percent “effective tax rate” paid by U.S. corporations also is higher than the rate paid by their foreign counterparts. 

In their latest video, the folks at the Tax Foundation do great job of debunking claims about the corporate tax burden and showing how U.S. companies tax bills stack up on a global basis. 

The short clip reinforces the Manufacturing Institute’s report  on the structural cost of manufacturing in the United States —it costs more to manufacture in the United States and taxes are a big part of the problem.

Yesterday Senators Rubio (R-FL) and Ayotte (R-NH) had a colloquy on the Senate floor where Senator Rubio made a very strong point about now not being the time to increase taxes business owners.

Here is the excerpt from Senator Rubio’s remarks:

“We don’t need new taxes. We need new taxpayers, people that are gainfully employed, making money and paying into the tax system.”

As we have said before, tax increases on manufacturers will only dampen economic growth and hurt job creation. Manufacturers are faced with countless regulations and tax burdens that harm their ability to grow. If manufacturers are able to create jobs then there will be additional taxpayers paying into the system. Piling on with additional tax increases will only harm our recovery.

Dorothy Coleman is vice president for tax and domestic economic policy, National Association of Manufacturers.