A coalition of big corporations are laying the groundwork to protect President Donald Trump’s corporate tax rate in anticipation of a Democratic majority in Congress next year.
The RATE Coalition, a group made up of 21 corporations such as Verizon, Target, and Walmart, is preparing a six-figure lobbying and advertising blitz in order to preserve the 21% corporate tax rate that was put in place with the president’s 2017 tax bill.
The 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act maintained the 21% rate and made permanent a number of 2017 provisions, including allowing businesses to expense 100% of eligible deductions right away, rather than spaced out over a number of years.
A source familiar with the campaign told the Washington Examiner that this is the first part of a larger six-figure effort that will continue into next year. The lobbying effort includes Capitol Hill briefings for members of Congress and their staff on the economic implications of a rate increase.
The group will also discuss its polling on a potential rate increase and how voters view the issue.
“A corporate tax hike may sound fine in the abstract, but it falls apart when voters see what it would actually mean for small businesses, wages, prices, and the retirement savings they are counting on,” RATE Coalition Executive Director Dan Combs told the Washington Examiner. “This campaign is about making those consequences clear, and ensuring Washington knows how strongly voters oppose them.”
But businesses have been looking to get ahead of the curve and halt any push that could come after the November election if Democrats take the majority in either chamber.
The RATE Coalition also launched a website highlighting its public opinion findings on a corporate tax hike from a June survey. The data shows that 45% of voters initially support a hike, with just 36% opposing it, but the data shifts when presented with more information.
After hearing more information, such as the effects on small businesses and retirement savings, 55% of voters opposed raising the rate, compared with 32% who favored the hike. However, according to a Pew Research Center survey, 63% of adults said tax rates on large businesses and corporations should be raised.
The RATE Coalition’s efforts come in response to a new Congress potentially controlled by Democrats, who considered raising the corporate tax rate from Trump’s 21% when they last held power in 2024.
Former President Joe Biden wanted to raise the rate to 28%, the Washington Post reported in 2024. While the number was still lower than the 35% that existed before Trump’s 2017 law went into effect, Democrats did not have the votes to raise the rate during the Biden era.
In fact, the corporate tax rate remained at 21% in Biden’s major tax bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed in 2022.
“Well it’s an idea to be explored, it’s in the public domain,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said at the time. “Certainly, we want to strike the right balance. The president has also proposed raising the corporate tax rate back to 28%. Of course, initially it was 35%. It was dropped all the way down to 21%, and corporate America wasn’t even asking for a 21% tax rate — and we know that’s higher than what the effective tax rate is.”
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It’s not clear if Democrats would make changes to the 21% rate if they take control of Congress in November. Any sweeping tax bill would face an uphill battle to clear both the Senate and the president’s signature.
The RATE Coalition argues that raising the corporate tax rate to 28% “would be a major economic mistake, damaging the economy, American incomes, and jobs,” causing a loss in American jobs and forcing companies to compete with foreign companies, which pay lower corporate tax rates.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Jeffries’s office and Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee for comment.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
