The Aerospace Industries Association’s 35 small business members have called on Congress to act on two bills that would restore tax incentives for research and development work.
The owners and executives of aerospace and defense companies stated in a letter to congressional leaders the impact of a recent tax change on their investment in advancing innovation, AIA said Monday.
They said the tax change would require their businesses to amortize R&D expenses over five years instead of getting a full tax deduction for such expenses in the year incurred.
“These higher tax bills greatly reduce our cash flow — meaning that we will struggle to hire and retain qualified talent, and for some of us, we will need to take out loans to cover these larger-than-expected expenses. Additionally, we will have fewer dollars to invest into the future R&D that will keep our country on the cutting edge of aerospace and defense technologies — and ahead of our foreign competitors,” the letter reads.
The companies urged Congress to bring the American Innovation and Jobs Act and American Innovation and R&D Competitiveness Act to the floor to address the impact of the new tax policy.
“These bills offer a critical lifeline not only to us, but also to American small businesses across every industry and from every part of the country,” the businesses wrote in the letter.
