As part of a the Coalition for Fair Effective Tax Rates, ABC will be advocating for the use of effective tax rates—or the percentage of income businesses pay in taxes—as the clearest way to judge the impact of tax reform on businesses as Congress tackles this issue. 

“The construction industry pays the highest effective tax rate in the country and those high rates have negative consequences for both businesses and the overall economy,” said ABC Vice President of Federal Affairs Geoff Burr, citing analysis by the U.S. Treasury Department. 

As part of the coalition, ABC will join the other groups in asking members of Congress, Obama administration officials and their staffs to use effective tax rates as a basic, day-to-day way of measuring the benefit of tax changes.

“This will lend support to legislation that broadens the tax base, while lowering rates for businesses that pay taxes at the individual level – which includes the overwhelming majority of the businesses in the construction industry,” Burr said.

To learn more, visit the coalition’s website, FairEffectiveTaxRates.com, their Facebook page, Facebook.com/TheCoalitionforFairEffectiveTaxRates, or their Twitter page, @EffectiveRate. 

As a founding member, ABC is a part of the management committee for the Coalition for Fair Effective Tax Rates, which also is comprised of Associated General Contractors, International Foodservice Distributors Association, International Franchise Association, National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, National Federation of Independent Business, Retail Industry Leaders Association, S Corporation Association and Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. The group represents about 500,000 businesses that range from large corporations to small companies.