Indiana Execs Say Corporate Tax Cuts Would Benefit Workers, Too

Indiana’s business community is waiting to see how federal tax reform plans, set for release next week, might impact their companies and workers.

At a roundtable in Indianapolis on Thursday, business leaders said they want to communicate to their workers and the public that lowering America’s corporate tax rate will be good for more than just executive paychecks.

Big Red Liquors owner Don Ricks says he doesn’t want tax hikes to be what keeps him from, say, upping from his contribution to his employees’ health plans. He says not cutting the corporate tax rate will eventually hurt his workers.

“Their accessible dollars, to go out and buy that new television or whatever to affect all of our economies, are dramatically affected by this,” Ricks says.

Other executives say they’d invest money saved on taxes in technology or expansions that would create jobs and job stability for their current employees.

They also say the biggest change since the last major tax reform, in 1986, has been global competition and technologies to access it. They say the current rate encourages companies to look for lower taxes overseas, and discourages small American businesses from growing.

Indianapolis native Brian Schutt owns one such business, HomeSense Heating and Cooling, and says lower taxes would free up thousands of dollars for investment.

“It means two more vans on the road next year, two more people employed, money going into an education program that we can’t currently afford,” he says.

Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump will both rally support for the forthcoming tax proposal in Indiana in the coming days. Pence will join a bipartisan group of Indiana’s federal lawmakers in Anderson on Friday.

Trump visits next week, though more details haven’t been announced.