Stricter Interest Expense Limitation to Cost Nearly 900,000 Jobs

A study analyzes the impact of Congress’ failure to reverse the stricter interest expense limitation.

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The National Association of Manufacturers released a new analysis on the impact to the U.S. economy of Congress’ failure to reverse the stricter interest expense limitation that took effect in January 2022.

The jobs impact of the stricter limitation has nearly doubled over the past year given congressional inaction to ensure a pro-growth interest deductibility standard as interest rates have continued to rise. The data show that limiting manufacturers’ ability to deduct interest on debt-financed investments, over the long run, could cost the U.S. economy up to:

  • 867,000 jobs
  • $58 billion of employee compensation
  • $108 billion in GDP

“A stricter interest expense limitation restricts manufacturers’ ability to invest in new equipment and create jobs," NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Chris Netram said. "This analysis clearly shows that failing to reverse this damaging change will cut close to 900,000 jobs and billions of dollars of employee pay and harm economic growth. Even more, the study finds that manufacturers and related industries bear 77% of the burden of this policy. Congress must act by year’s end to restore a pro-growth interest deductibility standard and allow manufacturers to continue to invest for the future.”

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