WASHINGTON, March 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- TechNet, the bipartisan policy and political network of CEOs that promotes the growth of the innovation economy, today called on the U.S. Senate to quickly approve the research and development tax credit which expired on December 31, 2009.  The Senate is scheduled to vote today to take up the pending tax bill, HR 4213, "The American Workers, State, and Business Tax Relief Act," which includes a seamless one year extension of the R&D Credit.  

"America's innovation and economic stature is critically dependent on our nation's support for research and cutting-edge discovery," said Rey Ramsey, President and CEO of TechNet.  "We must approve this important tool for innovation and at the same time we should make it permanent.  The fact is that R&D is expensive, labor-intensive and it takes years of thoughtful planning to bring ideas to market.  We've let this credit expire for the 14th time since its creation nearly 30 years ago.  This annual uncertainty of this credit hampers the ability of U.S. businesses to plan the future roadmap of the products they create to keep us on the cutting edge of global competitiveness.

"We must also remember that while we delay in renewing and making the credit permanent, our global competitors are offering stronger incentives for research each year. When the R&D Credit was first created in 1981, our nation provided the most generous tax treatment for research among all OECD nations. Today, we have fallen to 17th as other nations such as China, Japan and others now offer more aggressive R&D incentives. We can do better if we commit ourselves to long term support for innovation through research and development."

About TechNet:

TechNet is the national, bipartisan network of CEOs that promotes the growth of technology industries and the economy by building long-term relationships between technology leaders and policymakers and by advocating a targeted policy agenda. Our members are the nation's drivers of innovation in the fields of information technology, e-commerce, clean technology, biotechnology, venture capital and investment banking – representing two million employees and $800 billion in revenues. TechNet has offices in Washington, DC, Palo Alto, Sacramento, Seattle, Boston, Austin, and Albany, NY. Web address: www.technet.org.  You can also follow us on Twitter at Technetupdate@twitter.

SOURCE TechNet

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