This week we heard from two small businesses impacted by GSP expiration – Sugarpod LLC in Hillsboro, Oregon and Inplac in Charlotte, North Carolina – that reported paying $24,959.85 and $30,172.01 so far because of GSP expiration. Not $25,000 and $30,000, or even $24,960 and $30,172, but $24,959.85 and $30,172.01. Because every penny of extra taxes paid hurts small businesses like these
Those dollars and cents impact peoples lives and livelihoods: Sugarpod laid off a staff member and cut worker benefits due to higher costs. It scaled back other investments as well, including canceling plans to expand its product lines.
In addition to the $30,172.01 that is unavailable to Inplac for investing in operations, the company also lost sales due to GSP expiration. Factoring in 4.2% import taxes make it difficult to compete in the low-margin market for plastic bags.
As noted previously, there are no refunds for sales not made, meaning companies can never truly “recoup” all the losses from GSP expiration. The longer Congress allows GSP to remain expired, the greater the potential damage for companies and workers alike.
Both Sugarpod and Inplac provided this info by answering our GSP expiration survey, which you can complete here. As always, no company-specific information will be published without explicit permission.
