The U.S. House Republican tax reform proposal includes a recommendation to adopt a Border Adjustment Tax (BAT), which poses a discriminatory tax on all imported products—including promotional products—and is anticipated to hurt American consumers and the nation’s largest employers by increasing the cost of everyday products. The BAT, which would function as a national sales tax, could drive the unemployment rate back to 2010 highs in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

PPAI staff have already traveled to Washington, D.C. this year to speak with members of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committees to discuss the BAT and the Association has joined a coalition of more than 160 like-minded business leaders, corporations and industry groups, “Americans for Affordable Products,” to oppose the tax. Most promotional products are manufactured overseas and imported to the U.S. Once in the U.S., these products are decorated and sold by U.S. workers, and are used to promote U.S. goods and services.

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

PPAI encourages industry members to contact their member of Congress and ask them to look for ways to reform our complicated tax code that won’t negatively affect American workers.