By Canary, LLC.
Washington, D.C. - December 22, 2017 - (The Ponder News) -- The $1.5 trillion tax reform package that Congress approved Dec. 20 has placed corporate America on the cusp of a major investment boom, says Dan K. Eberhart, CEO of oilfield services company, Canary, LLC.
Eberhart anticipates far-reaching benefits as a result of the tax reform in 2018. These benefits include decreased tax-withholdings for every American, increased local spending on capital investments, and new job opportunities from companies—including Canary.
"Now that Congress has sent an historic tax bill to President Trump to sign, I think we're about to see the economy take off after years of anemic growth," Eberhart said.
"This is a great opportunity for businesses like Canary," he added. "After years of uncertainty and slow growth, we have an incentive to invest in our business and our employees. And that's a great thing to be able to tell your staff at the start of 2018."
Key components of the tax reform bill include doubling the standard deductions for individuals and couples, doubling the per-child tax credit, and slashing the capital tax rate.
"Lowering the capital tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent is a huge win, as is full and immediate expensing on capital investments," Eberhart said. "Immediate expensing on short-lived capital equipment is expected to save companies $32.5 billion next year alone. That's huge for medium-sized companies like mine."
As a result, Eberhart said, Canary will finally be in a position in 2018 to respond to pent up demands for new equipment and personnel.
"We're still crunching the numbers, but I expect at the end of the day, that we will put several million dollars back into the business next year that we otherwise wouldn't have. We've got a lot of aging equipment that needs to be replaced—that money is going to be spent locally. And as our activity picks up, we're also going to need to hire more people."
On the Right Side of History?
Eberhart says the weak fund-raising support that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is now experiencing is proof that the Democrats' attempts to thwart tax reform does not line up with what Americans want.
Democrats have claimed the GOP's proposed tax reform would have negligible benefits for the average American and ultimately lead middle-class Americans to pay more in taxes.
The GOP, on the other hand, maintains that every U.S. taxpayer will see meaningful tax savings. A family of four earning $75,000 a year, for example, will be able to hold on to $2,000 more of their pay during that time, the GOP estimates.
In the weeks and months following the tax package's passage—Congress approved the bill with no Democratic support—DNC members may find it increasingly difficult to explain their stance, Eberhart said. Or maybe they'll regret their actions even sooner: Within 24 hours of the tax bill's passage, a number of major U.S. businesses responded with good news for their employees.
These announcements include:
Wells Fargo and Fifth Third Bancorp unveiled minimum wage hikes.
AT&T and Comcast announced $1,000 bonuses for hundreds of thousands of workers.
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg announced $300 million in employee-related and charitable investments to spur innovation and growth.
"The bottom line is that our country's new tax reforms are going to have much broader impacts on the economy and employment than critics of the tax bill have given Republicans credit for," Eberhart said.
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