WASHINGTON---U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, today blasted President Obama for pushing to change tax accounting rules that would punish America’s manufacturing sector to generate tax revenue for deficit reduction. The Administration has proposed repealing the Last-In, First-Out (LIFO) inventory method of tax accounting, which would raise taxes on American manufacturers by roughly $69 billion, threatening firms’ ability to hire new workers and make new capital investments.  Hatch issued the following statement:

 “Let me get this straight – our economy is fragile, millions of Americans are out of work, and this White House is actually proposing an idea that would make things worse for our manufacturers.  This is about as logical as calling for another stimulus spending bill when our nation is over $14 trillion in debt.  The bottom line is Washington is addicted to spending money it doesn’t have – and the solution isn’t hitting our job creators during a severe economic downturn, but slashing spending.  It’s time for this White House to get with the program, cut spending to cut the deficit, and stop putting forward proposals that threaten an economic recovery. If there is a tax-policy case to be made for repealing LIFO, then that case should be made in the context of tax reform in a broad-based effort to reduce tax rates. It shouldn’t be done to enable further wasteful government spending.”