ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 24, 1996 TAG: 9604240035
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
Many of the nation's small manufacturers say they would hire more employees, pay them more and invest more in their companies if the federal government reduced taxes, regulations and mandates.
Ronald D. Bullock, chairman of the National Association of Manufacturers' Small Manufacturers Forum, said 34 percent of respondents to a February survey said they would increase pay ``if compliance costs for federal mandates and regulations were significantly reduced.''
An additional 22 percent said less government intrusion would permit them to add payrolls, and 59 percent said they would increase capital spending, which would lead to more jobs, he added.
Higher taxes leave small manufacturers with less to reinvest, said Bullock, chief executive officer of Bison Gear and Engineering in St. Charles, Ill.
``We feel we are targeted by the secretary of the Treasury to raise funds'' for the government, he said.
Ronald Sandmeyer Jr., senior vice president of Sandmeyer Steel Co. in Philadelphia, said small companies are taxed at individual tax rates as high as 39.6 percent, while the tax rate for large corporations is capped at 35 percent.
Nearly 1,600 manufacturers with 500 or fewer employees participated in the survey.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 35 linesby CNB