ATA asks U.S. legislators to support tax reform, trucking jobs flat in October
by November 6, 2017 12:21 pm 154 views
Chris Spear, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, urged U.S. legislators to support the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as for-hire trucking employment rose by 13,100 jobs in October, from the same month in 2016.
On Thursday (Nov. 2), Spear sent a letter to members of Congress offering his “strong support” of the tax reform proposal and wrote it would “boost the U.S. economy, promote critical business investment and create good-paying American jobs.”
He previously supported President Donald Trump’s tax reform proposal, and Spear wrote he was pleased to see the framework from the president’s proposal in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act “to the benefit of workers, small businesses and families across the economic spectrum.” The trucking industry is comprised of small businesses, with 97% of companies operating less than 20 trucks.
The ATA supports “lowering tax rates on business income, broadening the tax base to render it more equitable and significantly simplifying the enormously complex tax code,” Spear wrote. “Lowering the corporate rate will free up cash to invest in newer, safer, cleaner and more efficient equipment, while also helping carriers pay drivers more and make necessary investments in workforce development.”
If the tax base is broadened, it will remove “special tax breaks enjoyed by industries that are more heavily dominated by large business entities than trucking,” Spear wrote. “Tax simplification will alleviate the very considerable burden of compliance the current tax code imposes on small business.”
TRUCKING JOBS FLAT
In October, the seasonally adjusted number of employees on payrolls in the trucking/transportation industry was 1.473 million jobs, compared to 1.460 million in the same month in 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Overall, the unemployment rate fell 0.1% to 4.1% in October, from September. Average hourly earnings rose 2.4% in October, from the same month in 2016, according to Transport Topics.