Issue Position: Re-Focus on Manufacturing

Issue Position

I know how important manufacturing jobs are because I've had one. As a younger man I worked on the assembly line at the same Caterpillar plant where my father worked. That plant gave my dad a good paying job and helped him take care of his family. Unfair trade deals and bad tax policy have driven these jobs away.

In the last decade we've lost more than 176,000 manufacturing jobs here in Illinois. While things have recently started to improve a bit we are nowhere near where we used to be.[1] While some of this has been because of international competition it's also happened because we've not had the right policy approach.

Tax Credits to Manufacturers that Bring Jobs to Struggling Communities

If a company is willing to invest in a community we should be willing to help them out with their tax bill. We should expand the New Markets Tax Credit Program to give better breaks to manufacturers who set up shop in communities with high unemployment.

Make the Research & Experimentation Tax Credit Permanent

Ronald Reagan created this vital tax credit in 1981 but it's never been made permanent. As a result it has expired eight separate times, and then been renewed 13 times. The credit has been proven to be effective so there is no reason not to make it permanent so that companies know when they invest in research they will be rewarded.

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