Coalition

Urges Congress to Make Bonus Depreciation Permanent

October 15, 2015

Dear Senator/Representative

In 2008, a bipartisan Congress tried to jumpstart an ailing economy by implementing an
important pro-growth tax relief program known as accelerated expensing, or bonus
depreciation. This makes it easier for companies to write off expenses more quickly
than they had previously been able to letting the company account for all or a share
depreciation in the first year of a capital expenditure, rather than amortizing it over
several years.

Fundamental tax reform that includes full business expensing remains a top priority.
But for the here and now, this program has been a success. Congress has renewed it
every two yearsuntil this year.

We urge you to support the current legislation, H.R. 2510 introduced by Rep. Pat Tiberi
(R-Ohio) and S 1660 introduced by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas), would make permanent
the extension of accelerated expensing. This legislation is an important pillar of a pro-
growth tax reform agenda that will create jobs and incent greater investment in
infrastructure throughout our economy

Bonus depreciation encourages investment. Accelerated expensing gives businesses
the certainty they need to spend money on capital expenditures in an uncertain
economic environment. A recent study out of Harvard and the University of Chicago
found that 50 percent expensing raises investment appreciably; sometimes up to 30
percent over a given time period. This makes sense: where normal depreciation
schedules allow the company to depreciate the value of an investment over the course
of the decade, this legislation allows companies to take that tax write off more quickly,
reducing the stated value of the capital expenditure. By guaranteeing that companies
can write off the value of an investment sooner, bonus depreciation legislation
encourages companies to get those investments done quicker.

Bonus depreciation builds the economy and creates jobs. Capital investment
contributes to economic growth both directly and indirectly. When companies spend
money on capital purchases, they not only benefit the recipient of the sale; they also
create jobs, stimulate local economies and unleash the power of the multiplier effect.
That money goes not just to contractors involved in the project, but is also circulated
throughout the local economy as those contractors hire local workers and
subcontractors, who then spend that money on local goods and services, and the cycle
continues.

Bonus depreciation moves toward fundamental tax reform. Full business expensing

is a cornerstone of pro-growth tax reform. Bonus depreciation moves the current tax
system more than halfway to full business expensing. Making bonus depreciation
permanent would be a massive victory and big step forward towards meaningful tax
reform that will help American businesses compete in the face of an increasingly
difficult regulatory environment here at home, and the incredibly competitive global
marketplace.

Growing our economy is the only way to create jobs, pay down the debt and ensure our
nations long term financial security.

Permanently extending the benefits of bonus depreciation will encourage investment,
build the economy and create jobs. We hope you support permanent extension. At the
very least, its crucial to support S. 1666, the 2-year extension of the 50 percent
expensing bill introduced by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Pat Roberts, which
will continue our nation's forward-looking policies that encourage investment in new
jobs and equipment.

Sincerely,

David Williams
Brent Gardner
President
Vice President of Government Affairs
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Americans for Prosperity


Seton Motley
Matthew Kandrach
President
Vice President
Less Government
60 Plus Association


Karen Kerrigan
Iain Murray
President & CEO
Vice President
Small Business Entrepreneurship Council
Competitive Enterprise Institute


Jeff Mazzella
Brandon Arnold
President
Executive Vice President
Center for Individual Freedom
National Taxpayers Union


Andrew Moylan
Andrew Langer
Executive Director and Senior Fellow
President
R Street Institute
Institute for Liberty


Norm Singleton
Andresen Blom
Senior Vice President
Executive Director
Campaign for Liberty
Grassroot Hawaii Action

Gregory T. Angelo
President
Log Cabin Republicans

Mario Lopez
President
Hispanic Leadership Fund

George Landrith
President
Frontiers of Freedom

Thomas Schatz
President
Council for Citizens Against Government
Waste

Matt Schlapp
Chairman
American Conservative Union

Dan Schneider
Executive Director
American Conservative Union