Ad expense deduction threatened
Remind elected officials this is a bad idea
The Newspaper Association of America reports that the House Ways and Means Committee is considering proposals that would limit the ability of businesses to deduct the cost of advertising as a business expense. This proposal is being considered as a way to reduce the corporate tax rate to 25 percent.
Missouri Press Association encourages its member newspapers to contact their U.S. representatives and senators to remind them why they should oppose any proposals to limit the deductibility of advertising.
Key Points
- The advertising deduction is not a "subsidy" or tax exemption. Advertising is a necessary cost of doing business, just like salaries, office supplies and utilities.
- There is no authoritative economic or practical support for enacting a limit on the deduction of advertising costs. The Tax Code has permitted this deduction for the 100-year life of the corporate income tax.
- Advertising helps sustain newspapers and other media that citizens depend upon for information. Limiting the ability of businesses to deduct the cost of their advertising would reduce important revenues that support news and information provided to communities.
- Advertising expenditures account for $5.8 trillion in U.S. economic output and help support 19.8 million American jobs.
- Consider the nebulous nation and ubiquity of advertising and the administrative nightmare of such a change. We would need another horde of bureaucrats.
