Center for American Progress

RELEASE: Spur U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness by Simplifying and Strengthening the R&D Tax Credit
Press Release

RELEASE: Spur U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness by Simplifying and Strengthening the R&D Tax Credit

Read the report.

Washington D.C. – Today, at an event with Commerce Secretary John Bryson focused on status of U.S. economic competitiveness, the Center for American Progress released a new report detailing how improving investments in research and development can foster technological progress and economic growth. The report, entitled The Corporate R&D Tax Credit and U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness, calls for a simplified, enhanced, and extended corporate research and development tax credit.

In the United States, as in most other countries, business finances and carries out the majority of R&D activities. The goal of the R&D tax credit is to encourage private R&D investment by rewarding incremental, qualified research in the United States. The United States was one of the first nations to provide tax incentives for business R&D, but many other countries have introduced similar incentives, and many of their incentives are more generous.

As competition among nations to attract business R&D and to develop technology-intensive industries is grows, U.S. policymakers must strengthen policies that make the United States an attractive location for these activities. The report examines the role of the credit in federal government support for research and development, evaluates the credit’s performance in realizing its objectives, and makes recommendations to simplify, modify and strengthen its effectiveness.


Read the report,
The Corporate R&D Tax Credit and U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness: Gauging the Economic and Fiscal Effectiveness of the Credit, by Laura Tyson and Greg Linden

To speak with an expert on this topic, contact Katie Peters at [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> or 202.741.6285.

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