Ryan to talk manufacturing in New Albany
House Speaker Paul Ryan will be talking about how to stimulate manufacturing today at a central Ohio business that the state says is not a manufacturer.
The visit to Accel in New Albany represents the U.S. House GOP’s attempt to pivot from health care to revamping the U.S. tax system.
Ryan will attend a roundtable discussion with Ohio Reps. Pat Tiberi, R-Genoa Township, and Steve Stivers, R-Upper Arlington, this afternoon at Accel Inc., a New Albany contract packaging company. Accel Inc. CEO and founder Tara Abraham and co-CEO and founder David Abraham also will attend. Tara, her mother and David started the company more than 20 years ago.
Accel, which makes gift baskets of beauty products, has been locked in a five-year legal battle with the Ohio Department of Taxation.
The dispute is over whether the business is a manufacturer, as it claims, or a packager, as the state claims. The designations determine to which taxes the company would be subject.
Saying Accel isn’t a manufacturer — and saying the company didn’t properly classify some employees as temporary — the Department of Taxation in 2012 slapped it with a bill for almost $3.5 million in taxes penalties and interest.
Accel appealed to the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals, which ruled it didn’t owe the money. The tax department then appealed to the Supreme Court, where it is pending.
Ryan also will tour Anomatic, a New Albany company that makes aluminum packaging.
During the roundtable, open only to invited guests and the news media, Ryan will talk with business leaders “about how fixing our tax code will create good jobs and bolster American manufacturing.”
According to a source knowledgeable about the event, Ryan will hear how the family businesses have grown as well as what is holding them back. Ryan will make “an opening sales pitch” for tax reform, the source said.
“He supports the principles President Trump laid out on reform and will stress how we cannot afford to miss this moment,” the source said.
Among those participating in the roundtable are the Abrahams; Scott Rusch, president and CEO of Anomatic; Kenny McDonald, president and chief economic officer for Columbus 2020; Sloan Spalding, the mayor of New Albany; Rod Harl, president of Alene Candles; Ian Kalinosky, division president of Knowlton Development Corp.; and Tory Richardson, chief strategy officer for the Columbus Regional Airport Authority.
Stivers heads the National Republican Congressional Committee, the political arm for House Republicans.
After the roundtable, Ryan and Stivers will attend an NRCC fundraising dinner at the New Albany home of Limited Brands founder Leslie H. Wexner, a major GOP contributor, BuzzFeed News reported.
Ohio Democrats are planning a protest nearby to let Ryan “know how we feel about how hard he worked to pass Trumpcare — which would put hundreds of thousands of Ohioans at risk of losing their health coverage and cut more than $800 billion from Medicaid.”