With Construction Firms in No Position to Provide Interest-Free Loans to Federal Government, Repeal of Tax Withholding Measure Will Boost Economy, Top Construction Official Says
The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement today in response to the Senate vote (by a margin of 95 to 0 with one Senator voting present) to repeal the 3 percent tax withholding mandate:
鈥淎n overwhelming, bipartisan majority of Senators understand that repealing the 3 percent tax withholding mandate is essential to boosting economic growth. With construction activity down by $400 billion and the industry鈥檚 unemployment rate at 13.7 percent, the last thing construction employers need is to be forced into giving interest-free loans to the federal government. That is why today鈥檚 Senate vote comes as welcome news for construction firms, workers and taxpayers alike. As our members made clear in a recently released survey, many firms will be better able to offer positions to the veterans this legislation also supports without the enormous cost of this measure looming.鈥