Major tech trade association backs GOP tax bill

A major trade association representing the technology industry on Monday announced its formal support for the final version of the GOP tax bill.

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) said in a letter to members of Congress that it believes the bill will benefit the technology industry.

{mosads}“We are pleased to see that this critical legislation includes a permanent, competitive corporate rate, moves to a territorial system and creates powerful incentives for innovation including a permanent Research and Development Credit, and a tax incentive for income made abroad on intellectual property held in the United States,” ITI President Dean Garfield wrote in the letter addressed to Republican and Democratic party leaders in both chambers.

The Washington-based ITI lobbies on behalf of major technology firms like Google, Amazon, Oracle and IBM.

The tech industry had lobbied in favor of a research and development credit, decreased corporate tax rates and incentives to bring intellectual property stored overseas back to the U.S.

Experts note that the technology industry is set to receive a huge windfall from the proposed tax-reform bill. Apple alone is set to save roughly $47 billion as a result of the legislation.

Technology companies, many of which have significant profits stashed overseas, will benefit from the lowered repatriation rate of 8 percent on fixed assets and 15.5 percent on cash assets brought back to the U.S. after being stored abroad. The rates will be a significant discount on the current 35 percent corporate tax rate, and still be a better deal than the 21 percent rate proposed in Congress’s bill.

Congress is expected to vote on the bill on Tuesday.