Tax law boosts confidence for Iowa manufacturers

PELLA — Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks toured two Iowa manufacturers on Monday, where company leaders credited federal tax changes with fueling expansion, research investment and workforce training.

Miller-Meeks used the tours to highlight tax provisions for Iowa manufacturers contained in Republicans’ tax and spending legislation, dubbed the “one big beautiful bill,” saying the measures provide stability, spur investment and help counter competition from China.

The legislation permanently extends lower income tax rates and other key provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, boosts funding for border security and immigration enforcement, and reduces future Medicaid spending, among many other budget and policy items.

“Setting the long-term corporate tax rate at 21 percent allows us to plan for the long term, knowing what our tax rate is going to be,” said Jason Andringa, president & CEO at Vermeer Corporation.

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The Pella-based company manufactures a variety of agricultural, underground construction, surface mining, tree care and environmental equipment.

“For us to be able to immediately expense research and development and capital expenditures is incredibly important,” Andringa continued. “We reinvest the vast majority of our profitability back into the business, and these provisions let us do that with more certainty.”

Vermeer has doubled in size since 2018. After a period of stabilization that led to a temporary hiring freeze, company officials said they are again in “expansion mode,” planning to add employees in the near term and considering additional factory space in coming years.

Miller-Meeks said the manufacturers’ experiences in Iowa counter criticism in Washington that extending tax provisions would not stimulate growth.

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The "Big, Beautiful Bill" (also known as H.R. 1) is projected to have a mixed impact on economic growth. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the bill will modestly boost GDP growth in the short term, through increased spending and tax cuts, but also lead to significant increases in the national debt and potentially higher interest rates in the long run, potentially leading to slower long-term economic growth.

“What I’m hearing from you is exactly the opposite of what I heard from the CBO and critics,” Miller-Meeks said. “In fact, it's again spurring economic growth, even beyond what we saw in the initial Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.”

Vermeer officials said the combination of federal and state workforce programs has strengthened the company’s ability to train employees on new technology.

“It’s a win for Vermeer, it’s a win for our team members who get to come in and train on state-of-the-art equipment, and it’s a win for the economy,” Andringa said. “When Vermeer grows, our customers grow, our payroll grows, the tax base grows.”

Miller-Meeks pointed to several key elements of the legislation, including $500 billion for skilled trades training, lower taxes on overtime, and permanently reinstating full expensing for domestic research and development expenditures. This means businesses can deduct the full cost of their domestic R&D investments in the year they are incurred, rather than being required to amortize those costs over several years.

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The new law also reinstates full expensing for qualified production property, meaning manufacturers can deduct the entire cost of new machinery, equipment, vehicles and certain building improvements in the year they are placed in service. The immediate deduction provides a significant tax advantage, especially for companies undergoing major expansions or modernization efforts.

“Most manufacturers I know have people working overtime,” Miller-Meeks said. “Having a reduction in taxes on overtime is a big deal to helping them retain employees.”

And by keeping tax brackets low, employees can accept promotions or work more hours without being penalized by higher taxes, supporting workforce flexibility and advancement, she added.

“These tax provisions give companies the assurance they need to invest in their people and products,” she said. “Depreciation, expensing and especially R&D credits help manufacturers develop new products, retain employees and avoid tax increases on overtime pay.”

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Miller-Meeks also stopped at Cemen Tech, a Indianola-based manufacturer of volumetric concrete mixers, where she met with employees in a conference room and fielded questions about the bill, taxes and artificial intelligence, according to her office. The roundtable discussion was closed to the press.

Cemen Tech leaders said the legislation has already boosted business confidence. Brant Pftantz, the company’s director of supply chain, said customer demand picked up in the two months since the bill’s passage.

“We’ve received more orders,” Pftantz said. “Our customers have that confidence now that the economy is going to take off, and it’s happening.”

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) also credited the law for strengthening the industry. Erin Streeter, a NAM representative who joined the event, said the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provided “rocket fuel” for manufacturing, and that the new provisions build on that momentum.

“We are very excited about these tax provisions because they are going to help manufacturers grow,” Streeter said. “And we want to thank the congresswoman. She took a bold vote to help us get this across the finish line.”

Miller-Meeks added that the legislation also supports U.S. competitiveness in artificial intelligence. She said AI can help manufacturers automate repetitive tasks while freeing workers to focus on higher-value work.

“Manufacturers are utilizing augmented intelligence,” she said. “It helps free up intellectual capital and workforce to be more productive in other areas.”

She also linked the bill to efforts to secure supply chains and reduce reliance on China, noting vulnerabilities exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Supply chains broke down because we were dependent on one supplier — the Chinese Communist Party,” Miller-Meeks said. “We want to diversify those supply chains and help manufacturers here at home.”

Elected officials call for Miller-Meeks to host in-person town hall

More than a dozen elected officials in Iowa's 1st Congressional District (mostly, if not all, Democrats) recently sent Miller-Meeks a letter imploring her to hold an in-person town hall and listen to the concerns of the voters of Southeast Iowa.

Miller-Meeks has spent the monthlong August recess traveling the district, meeting with constituents, local leaders and businesses privately to highlight the One Big Beautiful Bill's impact on Iowans, and periodically taking questions from Iowa journalists.

According to her office, the congresswoman has attended 25 events and meetings, including spending three days at the Iowa State Fair, but has not held any public events open to all constituents, and offered little, if any, public notice of her appearances.

Her office said she has visited all 20 counties in the district and hosted two telephone town halls this year, including an April 29 tele-town hall that her office said drew more than 6,300 callers.

“We implore you to hold an in-person town hall and listen to the people of Southeast Iowa,” the letter reads. “Scripted tele-townhalls and tidy photo ops will do nothing for voters who feel that they’ve been failed by their congresswoman. You must listen to the voters of Iowa’s first district and face their questions. Anything less than an in-person town hall with advance notice would be breaking your promise and abdicating your responsibility to the people of Iowa’s first district.”

In April, during a private event in Bettendorf, the Congresswoman said: "Just like I've done every single year, we'll do in-person town halls." She reiterated that commitment a week later.

Miller-Meeks in a statement to The Gazette, said: “I meet with Iowans all year and August is no different. The best way to serve is to meet regular folks where they’re at, listen, and share what we’re getting done in Congress.

“I communicate with constituents every single day through meetings, calls, and community events, and will continue to engage with Iowans in a variety of ways, including town halls, to highlight the results we are delivering in Congress.”

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com