More Than 1,300 Firms Urge Lawmakers to Extend R&D Tax Credit

WASHINGTON, November 17, 2010 - Approximately 1,300 organizations sent a letter to lawmakers urging them to enact legislation extending research and development tax provisions which the group says are vital to maintaining and creating U.S. jobs. It's an issue long debated in the technology and telecommunications arena, where many firms seek the provisions to become permanent so that they can make better long-term business decisions.

The group wants Congress during its lame-duck session to approve an extension of the expired R&D tax credit, which was created in 1981.

“The R&D tax credit is all about jobs, American jobs. With more than 70 percent of the credit attributable to salaries and wages of U.S. workers conducting research in the United States, the R&D tax credit can be rightfully termed a jobs credit,” said Collie Hutter, chief financial officer and chief operation officer with Click Bond in Carson City, Nev.

Other signers of the letter include AT&T, Cisco Systems, eBay, Ford Motor, Motion Picture Association of America and National Semiconductor.