In October 2004, the Senate passed and the President signed into law bipartisan legislation critical to American workers, the American Jobs Creation Act. This legislation ended sanctions on U.S. exports, provided needed tax relief to U.S. manufacturers, helped make our businesses and workers more competitive in the global market, and shut down corporate tax abuses without increasing the federal deficit.

The major components of the American Jobs Creation Act:

Ended Sanctions on American Products: Repealed export tax subsidy known as "FSC-ETI" to end escalating tariffs on American manufacturers and farmers.

Reduced Corporate Tax Rates, Benefits Small Businesses: Effectively reduced the tax rate from 35 percent to 32 percent for domestic manufacturers, large and small. It also provided tax incentives for small businesses and farmers.

Simplified International Tax Law and Enhances U.S. Competitiveness: Reduced double taxation of U.S. businesses engaged in the worldwide market and simplified complex international tax law.

Created American Jobs: Reduced taxes for manufacturing done in the United States, ended sanctions and encouraged business investment to generate American job growth. This legislation enabled U.S. businesses to have more resources available to create new jobs and keep existing workers.

Following are some specific proposals to help American businesses, farmers and small manufacturers:

Tax Incentives for Businesses and Job Creators

• Enhanced community revitalization incentives in economically distressed regions by enhancing eligibility criteria for Renewal Communities and the New Markets Tax Credit. Throughout my congressional career, I have supported this legislation and am proud to have advocated for passage of similar provisions in the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Extended enhanced "section 179" expensing so that small businesses can immediately expense up to $100,000 of new investments through 2007.
• Reduced the depreciation period for restaurants and leasehold improvements from 39 years to 15 years.

Tax Relief for Farmers and Small Manufacturers

• Ensured that farmers and fishermen were not hit by the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) when they used income averaging to smooth out fluctuations in their annual incomes.
• Reduced or repealed excise taxes that created a competitive disadvantage for small manufacturers.

Tax Reform and Simplification for U.S. Businesses

• I advocated for the Invest in the U.S.A Act of 2003 (S. 596), which passed as part of the Senate package, to lower the tax rate on foreign income for one year (from up to 35% to 5.25%) for American-owned companies with foreign subsidiaries. Companies are required to reinvest these funds in the U.S. in an approved investment plan to take advantage of the lowered rate.