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Chamber Coalition Urges Congressional Delegation to Reject Federal Tax Hike Proposal

A letter to Pennsylvania’s Congressional delegation that was spearheaded by the PA Chamber and signed by local chambers, including The Columbia Montour Chamber, and business groups this week has urged a resounding rejection of the Biden administration’s recently unveiled plans to impose anti-business tax hikes on the Commonwealth’s private sector.

Most notably contained in the massive $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill is a proposed increase in the federal corporate tax rate, from 21 percent to 26.5 percent. Combined with Pennsylvania’s already uncompetitive CNI rate of 9.99 percent (the second highest in the nation), this would put the rate paid by the Commonwealth’s employers at a staggering 36.49 percent – much higher than China’s rate of 25 percent and the average European Union rate of 21 percent.  As a matter of simple economics, this change would greatly harm Pennsylvania businesses’ ability to compete at home and abroad, and serves as a major deterrent for would-be investors when they’re considering where to locate and hire.

Other alarming components of the Biden administration’s tax reform proposal that the letter addresses as it pertains to Pennsylvania include:

  • Changes to the Global Intangible Low-Tax income tax, which would lead to higher taxes for many PA-based companies and, when combined with the federal rate, would detract investment in the Commonwealth;
  • A number of significant tax increases on the pass-through business sector, which when coupled with Pennsylvania’s income tax would lead to a more than 40 percent hike on taxable income for employers statewide;
  • Raising the Capital Gains Tax to 25 percent, which would affect approximately two-thirds of capital investment in the U.S. and could dampen investments in Pennsylvania start-ups and hurt Pennsylvania families as they look to retire or buy a new home.

As expressed in the letter, there is widespread agreement among Pennsylvania’s broad-based business community that the measures contained in the reconciliation bill would hurt Pennsylvania businesses, employees, and consumers at the same time that communities statewide are struggling to emerge from the ongoing financial and workforce challenges imposed by the pandemic.

“Pennsylvania businesses are at a critical juncture as we attempt to survive and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic,” the signatories wrote. “We ask that you move our economy in the right direction by opposing these job-killing tax hikes that threaten to derail our economic recovery.”

A U.S. Chamber column that considers the impact of the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill on the nation’s private sector can be found here.

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