Coons on Concerns Reconciliation Bill’s Tax Increase Will Hurt Manufacturing: Need to Look at That, But We Support Tax Increase

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) reacted to concerns that the corporate minimum tax in the reconciliation bill could harm manufacturing by stating that supporting the tax “is something our caucus has come together behind.” And that while the possible impact on competitiveness should be looked at, spending the CHIPS bill will help manufacturing.

Coons began by saying, “The most important thing is that we get this bill passed.”

Host Jake Tapper asked, “Sen. Toomey was on the show Sunday and he said the problem with requiring a minimum tax for corporations is that it affects the corporations’ ability to invest that money in future manufacturing, which was part of the 2017 Trump tax bill. How do you counteract that argument?”

Coons responded, “Well, let’s be clear. This is a minimum tax that applies to corporations that are bringing in more than $1 billion a year in revenue, and as a simple principle, the idea that there should be a minimum amount of taxes paid by the very wealthiest Americans and the most profitable companies is something our caucus has come together behind. I do think we need to take a hard look at how it might impact competitiveness. You know, Jake, I’m someone who worked in manufacturing for eight years and we are just about to go to a bill signing on Tuesday where President Biden will sign into law the last major piece of legislation that we passed here in the Senate with a bipartisan vote, the CHIPS and science bill, that does a lot to invest in manufacturing. So, I think we have to look at both of these pieces of legislation, the incentives and the investments in manufacturing that come out of the CHIPS and science bill that we just passed last week and any potential impact here in terms of a corporate minimum tax. At the end of the day, Jake, I don’t think we should go out, that we should leave Washington for August until we’ve resolved these issues in our caucus and moved this bill forward.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett