Four Hot Legislative, Industry Topics Package Printers Need to Know for 2024

What are four hot topics label and package printers need to know about?

Sustainability
2024 is going to be the year of sustainability. On the federal legislative front, PRINTING United Alliance supports the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act (RCAA), and the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act (RIAA). The proposed recycling infrastructure would reduce the push for states to enact Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws, which impose liability on producers for the lifecycle of their products.

Consumers are demanding sustainability and recyclability of products, so every printer needs to evaluate where they are in terms of their sustainability journey.

Workforce Development
The printing industry’s shortage of labor is also top of mind. The Alliance joined Tomorrow’s Workforce Coalition to advocate for the passage of the Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act. The legislation would transform the 529 college savings program to a “career savings plan” allowing the tax-exempt 529 account funds to be spent on obtaining and maintaining postsecondary credentials, including professional, voluntary certifications, licenses and other training and credentials. The Alliance offers training and credentialing that would be covered under the legislation. It’s not a cure-all but it will help develop new talent.

Federal Regulations
The trend on Capitol Hill is to pursue aggressive policy changes through regulation rather than congressional legislation. Overly burdensome and costly federal regulations continue to hamper investment and job growth in the printing industry. To counter this, the Alliance joined the Manufacturers for Sensible Regulations (MFSR) coalition to advocate for balanced regulations.

According to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), a small manufacturing firm with 20 employees bears more than $1 million in compliance costs. And since 80% of the printing industry is composed of small businesses, this is a sobering statistic.

The coalition is calling on the Administration to appoint a senior-level adviser to coordinate efforts within the White House to ensure that federal regulators are implementing policies that align President Biden’s promise to promote the growth of manufacturing in America.

The Alliance will continue to work proactively to establish a public policy environment that is more predictable, more certain, and more conducive to economic growth and job creation.

Taxes
The Alliance supports a tax system that allows taxpayers and business owners to make smart decisions about how they work, save, and invest. Low tax rates and a stable tax code allow businesses to grow the economy, create jobs for Americans, and invest for the future.

Here are a few of the tax bills the Alliance is advocating for:

• The American Innovation and R&D Competitiveness Act and the American Innovation and Jobs Act, House and Senate versions, respectively, would eliminate the five-year amortization requirement for research and development expenditures, allowing continued expensing of such expenditures in the taxable years in which they are incurred.
• Title 1 of the Build It in America Act would temporarily extend three expiring business tax provisions through 2025, which would increase the ability of businesses to recover the costs of their investments and defer some tax until after 2025.
• The Death Tax Repeal Act and the Permanently Repeal the Estate Tax Act, Senate and House versions, respectively, would permanently repeal the federal estate tax to prevent significant adverse effects the tax inflicts on family-owned businesses.
• The Main Street Tax Certainty Act would make permanent the 20% small business tax deduction.
• The Small Business Jobs Act would amend sections of the tax code relating to the tax treatment of certain capital gains and allowable deductions for depreciation available to small businesses.

How can printers best prepare their business for the year ahead?

In general, there will be uncertainty for the printing industry until the general election takes place on November 5, 2024. As is customary, regardless of the outcome, the Alliance will welcome the new Congress in January 2025 when members are sworn into office. And 2025 is the year the Alliance plans to host a Washington, DC, Legislative Fly-In to allow printing industry advocates the opportunity to meet with the Congressional Printing Caucus, Members of Congress or their senior legislative staff, and advance our policy priorities.

To join the Alliance community and learn more about how to become involved and be informed of the vast Advocacy initiatives that the Alliance is conducting on the industry’s behalf, please visit: www.printing.org/membership. 

PRINTING United Alliance’s Advocacy Center is a one-stop shop to help your company voice opinions to Congress. With easy-to-use tools to help find your legislators, search Congressional Committee rosters and get alerts to help you take action on key issues impacting print.