Arkansas Delegation Letter of Support

On behalf of our home state of Arkansas, we are writing to express our concerns with the regulations for the Trade Facilitation & Trade Enforcement act of 2015 (TFTEA). We believe that the implementing language for Section 906 recently submitted for review to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) by the U.S. Treasury Department and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) runs counter to Congressional intent and will have a direct, negative impact on hardworking Arkansans.

It has come to our attention that the implementing language for Section 906 of TFTEA expressly excludes the beverage alcohol industry from participating in the duty drawback program. Such a limitation runs contrary to Congressional intent of TFTEA and signals that federal agencies have the power to eliminate entire industries from tax and trade promotion programs as they see fit, regardless of statutory mandates. Additionally, excluding the beverage alcohol industry from the duty drawback program would have a negative impact on jobs in Arkansas.

TFTEA’s expansion of the duty drawback program has already increased manufacturing in Arkansas. The ability to drawback duties on imports had incentivized companies to domestically produce products for export that they would have otherwise produced outside of the United States. This, in turn, directly creates quality manufacturing jobs – too many of which have left out state in recent years – for Americans.

We are confident that this trend will continue following the success many other industries have seen from similar programs. For example, in 2001, U.S. wineries began claiming drawback of duties, taxes, and fees on their imported products. To date, the program has been a resounding success, producing a 200% increase in wine exports. We believe that the limitations proposed by the Treasury Department will reverse this growth and hinder job creation in our state.

We request that you do not allow the promulgation of any rule that runs counter to Congress’s intentions to increase American exports and trade by limiting the beverage alcohol industry’s eligibility for excise tax drawback on beer, wine, and spirits. We thank you for your consideration in this matter and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Sen. Tom Cotton
Sen. John Boozman
Rep. Steve Womack
Rep. Rick Crawford
Rep. Bruce Westerman
Rep. French Hill