After the latest Supporter List update this morning, there are now 290 American companies and associations calling on Congress to renew GSP. Since GSP was reinstated in July 2015, it has saved American nearly companies $1.6 billion in reduced taxes, including $547 million in the first 8 months of 2017.
Who benefits the most from GSP? Globally engaged small businesses. Over 80 percent of the GSP supporter list companies have 100 or fewer employees. The typical company has 15 employees and saved $100,000 in 2016 – a huge amount for companies of that size. GSP savings improve US export competitiveness as well: 43 percent of these GSP importers export.
Tyoga Container Company in Tioga, Pennsylvania, one of the newly added GSP supporter companies, meets nearly all of those criteria. The 78-employee company imports dunnage air bags from India and Turkey and GSP saved it $126,000 in 2016. While Tyoga does not export the products directly, “dunnage” bags are specialty products designed to hold cargo in place during shipping, meaning GSP savings further reduce costs for domestic shippers and U.S. exporters alike.
If your organization cares about GSP renewal and is not yet on the list, please take a moment to add it here now. Adding a name is free and will help the Coalition for GSP’s efforts over the coming 2 months to avoid another costly lapse in GSP benefits.
