NATA Joins Multi-industry Appeal on Bonus Depreciation

A cross-section of more than 200 industry groups, including NATA, is urging U.S. lawmakers to renew the bonus depreciation and Section 179 expensing measures that expired at the end of 2014. Their appeal, part of a series of appeals made to Congress in recent months to act on the measures, comes with just a few months left in the year.

“It is essential that Congress act to renew important tax provisions that expired at the end of 2014,” the organizations said in the joint letter. “The current uncertainty about these tax policies is discouraging investment in the U.S. and, in some cases, keeping companies on the sidelines. This impacts both companies that make investments and companies that manufacture capital equipment and reduces job growth that typically accompanies such investments.”

Lawmakers are staged for a repeat of last year’s debate, with the U.S. House of Representatives pushing for permanent extensions of certain tax measures, including bonus depreciation, and the Senate seeking a two-year extension. The House Ways and Means Committee last month voted 24-13 to move forward H.R.2510, which would make bonus depreciation permanent. The committee earlier this year approved a similar bill to make Section 179 expensing breaks permanent. The Senate Finance Committee in late July approved a two-year tax extenders for a number of the tax measures, including bonus depreciation and Section 179 expensing.