Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Bob Menendez
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) today reintroduced the Territory Economic Development Tax Credit Act (TEDTCA), which would create a tax credit for wages and tangible investments made by U.S. based businesses in the U.S. territories. This crucial bill will support job creation and help strengthen the U.S. supply chain for manufacturing goods across American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“This legislation will incentivize businesses to spur job-creation and economic development for the 3.5 million hard-working American citizens that call the U.S. territories home,” Sen. Menendez said. “This bill directly ties tax credits available to U.S. businesses to the jobs they create and the tangible investments they make in the territories, and will also undo some of the negative impacts of the 2017 tax law which disincentivized U.S. companies from investing in the local economies of the U.S. territories. I look forward to working with my colleague Senator Wicker to pass this bill into law, which will help propel economic growth and much-needed job growth in the U.S. territories.”
The TEDTCA would:
- Create a business tax credit for wages and tangible investments made by active U.S. parent corporations with branches operating in the territories; 80 percent of income must be sourced from a territory; 75 percent must come from an active trade or business in a territory.
- Credit would be equal to 40 percent of eligible wages and benefits paid or provided to employees in the territory, capped at the current Social Security contribution base; credit equal to 25 percent of eligible tangible investments made in the territory could be claimed.
One of the U.S. territories where TEDTCA would have a direct impact is in Puerto Rico, where lack of jobs and unemployment rates remain high. In Puerto Rico, the legislation is supported by both the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“Upon enactment, the legislation will provide for significant job opportunities and critical investments in Puerto Rico’s manufacturing sector. It will also help address the reshoring of vital supplies of pharmaceuticals and medical devices and other advanced manufactured products critical to U.S. national security,” said Puerto Rico’s Senate President José Luis Dalmau in a letter to Sen. Menendez.
“I appreciate that you introduced legislation to mitigate the impacts of GILTI on Puerto Rico (…) by offering a tax credit against it [as] long as qualified U.S. companies meet certain thresholds tied to jobs and investments in Puerto Rico,” stated Puerto Rico’s House Speaker Rafael Hernandez Montanez in a letter to Sen. Menendez. “The decisions Congress makes on this will impact thousands of lives. (…) Puerto Rico has lost over 100,000 manufacturing jobs since the phase-out of 936 began [with] the drawdown on Puerto Rican operations [leaving] the U.S. at risk for key product lines.”
A copy of the bill is available HERE.
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