[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 37 (Tuesday, March 9, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H1027]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         SUPPORT H.R. 835, MAKING THE R&D TAX CREDIT PERMANENT

  (Mr. ETHERIDGE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to call on this Congress to 
pass legislation to make permanent the Federal Research and Development 
Tax Credit. I am a strong supporter and an original cosponsor of H.R. 
835, which really is a bipartisan piece of legislation sponsored by 
Representatives Johnson and Matsui to make it permanent. It is also one 
of the top issues of the new Democratic coalition for this Congress.
  The R&D tax credit provides an essential incentive for companies to 
increase their investment in U.S. research and development. The R&D tax 
credit is important to the Research Triangle Park and the rest of my 
district in North Carolina, which happens to be the home for 3,100 
information technology establishments and over 195,000 technology 
employees, and with a payroll of $5.1 billion.
  This tax credit is so important because it provides a base amount, 
but North Carolina has an amount tied to that that will make a 
difference, and if the Federal is lost, so will be the State. We need 
to make it permanent this year.
  Unless companies can consistently depend upon the combined Federal 
and State tax credit year in and year out, we risk the ground-breaking 
research that is provided for job placement.

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