Sens. Cruz, McSally Introduce Bill to Enact Expensing Reform, Creating Jobs and Increasing Wages

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) today introduced the Cost Recovery and Expensing Acceleration to Transform the Economy and Jumpstart Opportunities for Businesses and Startups (CREATE JOBS) Act, legislation that would accomplish one of the most important structural reforms to the tax code possible: expensing reform.

Upon introducing the CREATE JOBS Act, Sen. Cruz said:

"As a result of the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, hardworking men and women have lost their jobs, small businesses have shuttered, and entire industries are struggling to reopen and rehire their employees. Now more than ever, we need to focus on the long-term recovery of our country and getting America back to work. One of the best ways to do that is by restructuring the tax code and reform expensing. Doing this would cost less than one-third of the proposal Democrats are pushing, while generating dramatically more investment in America's workforce. Rather than focus on another massive, short-term spending measure, this legislation will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and increase wages for hardworking Americans all across the country for years to come."

Sen. McSally added:

"As we continue to confront the coronavirus and its economic impacts, I'm working to implement policies that encourage investment in our country. Our bill does this by removing unnecessary tax barriers, which will incentivize American businesses to expand or bring their manufacturing and research and development back home. It will also update provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that are set to expire in the coming years to encourage economic growth through the end of the pandemic and beyond. By doing this we will help restore the booming economy that was realized prior to the pandemic."

Specifically, the CREATE JOBS Act:

• Applies neutral cost recovery to rental units and commercial structures
• Makes the bonus-depreciation provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) permanent
• Preserves full-expensing for research and development (R&D) spending

Taken together, the Tax Foundation estimates that these provisions would increase long-run GDP by 5.1%, increase wages by 4.3%, create over 1 million full-time jobs for American workers and help keep the United States on the leading edge of innovative research.

The full text of the legislation can be read here.

In addition to introducing the CREATE JOBS Act, Sen. Cruz has taken a number of actions to help those struggling with the economic devastation of this pandemic. Recently, Sen. Cruz introduced the AMORE Act, which would allow people facing financial challenges and who are unable to make contributions to their tax-advantaged retirement accounts in 2020 to make "catch-up" contributions to these accounts in the coming years.

Sen. Cruz also introduced the LIFT UP Act, legislation that would provide small businesses debt relief in the CARES Act for Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loans, and the Work Safe Act, legislation that would provide tax credits to businesses that test employees for COVID-19 every week in states where the infection rates are above the national average.

For COVID-19 information and additional resources, visit www.cruz.senate.gov/coronavirus/.

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