IHA Urges Congress to Stop Border Adjustment Tax

The International Housewares Association, representing the more than 1,700 housewares suppliers around the globe, has joined Americans for Affordable Products, a growing coalition of more than 100 businesses and trade associations, to stop the Border Adjustment Tax or BAT.

AAP is running a national campaign to mobilize consumers and show lawmakers that a discriminatory tax on imports will result in their constituents paying higher prices for everyday items and shouldn’t be included in tax reform.

The BAT, which is a component of the U.S. House Republican tax reform proposal, will significantly hurt American consumers and the nation’s largest employers by increasing the cost of everyday products, according to AAP. 

“We view this as an opportunity to lend the resources and leverage of the IHA to the Americans for Affordable Products Coalition,” said Phil Brandl, IHA president and CEO. “Any tax law, however well intended, that adds substantial cost to products and ultimately the consumer, is not a productive law. With the help of IHA members, we will communicate our intense displeasure with the proposed law to all appropriate legislative representation.”

According to the National Retail Federation, upon passage, the BAT will cost American families as much as $1,700. Middle-class and low-income families who have seen their wages stagnate in recent years would bear the brunt of this new tax because they spend a larger share of their income on tradable goods that would be hit by the BAT.

While IHA and Americans for Affordable Products oppose the BAT, they recognize the hard work among members of Congress to reform the tax code and support the overall effort and hope it can be achieved without hurting middle-class American families.

The International Housewares Association is the 78-year-old voice of the housewares industry, which accounted for $331.1 billion at retail worldwide in 2014; $75.1 billion at retail in the U.S. The not-for-profit, full-service association sponsors the International Home + Housewares Show, and offers its 1,700 member companies a wide range of services, including industry and government advocacy, export assistance, state-of-the-industry reports, point-of-sale and consumer panel data through Housewares MarketWatch, executive management peer groups, a unique web-based community at www.housewares.org and group buying discounts on business solutions services.