Cartwright Raises the Alarm Over GOP Tax Bill Provisions That Would Ship Jobs Overseas

Pointing out that the Republican tax cut plan, as it stood at the end of November 2017, is to drop corporate tax to 20% for companies doing business in America, but to 10% for American companies doing business overseas, Congressman Matt Cartwright sounded the alarm for a potential disastrous result for domestic employment.

“This tax bill will ship more jobs overseas,” said Cartwright, as he recounted the loss of jobs in northeastern Pennsylvania after NAFTA. In particular, Cartwright shared with his House colleagues stories from individuals who worked at a prominent manufacturing plant in Dunmore, PA, RCA and then later Thompson Consumer Electronics. The plant at one time employed nearly 1,600 employees and offered good-paying, union jobs that were family- and community-sustaining.

“Some employees who were working there for 30 years thought they would never lose their jobs,” recalled Cartwright.  “The workers believed that they made too much money for the company, and they would never close this plant. Well, the plant didn’t close, they just moved it to Mexico.”

With the current Republican tax plan, Cartwright blamed haste and corner-cutting in part for the poor result.  “There were no hearings. There were no experts testifying about the effects of these bills,” he said.  “We need to start over and do a better job on the issue of creating jobs.”