OHIO — Companies are keeping a closer eye on what could happen with taxes and tariffs in this November election. 

What You Need To Know

  • Companies are looking at their own supply chain and where they are sourcing their materials from just in case tariffs are an issue
  • Businesses are also taking a look at where they’ll expand or place factories if taxes increase 
  • On either side, experts say there are concerns as possible proposals by either presidential candidate may not have the support needed or ability to move forward 

Jared Pincin, an associate professor of economics at Cedarville University, said companies are concerned about the economy potentially slowing down in addition to policy. Now, with Vice President Kamala Harris proposing a higher corporate tax rate and an increase in regulatory oversight over pricing and Former President Trump looking to increase tariffs, he said "there's all kinds of uncertainties, certainly higher cost."

Knowing that inflation is still high in the middle of all of this, Pincin noted that companies are preparing now to be able to handle what may come their way.

“So one of the things that companies are doing is looking at their own supply chain, where they are sourcing their materials from, because if tariffs are going to be an issue, then they're going to have to look at countries where the tariffs aren't going to be as high," he said.

He said the same is true with corporate taxes, should they be raised.

“That is going to affect where companies are going to be placing factories or just expanding different lines, so they're really just putting into place contingency plans and resiliencies for that," he said.

Even though there is a lot of uncertainty as to what the future may look like on either front, Pincin did say that people know Trump’s stances since he’s already been president.

“He is proposing a few other policies, a little higher tariff rates than he had before. Whether he can do that is really uncertain. I do not think Congress will go along with higher tariff rates, so he has limited ability to do that.”

As for Harris, he sees her as more of the “wild card” on both issues since there haven’t really been any policy specifics.

“So businesses are going to keep an ear to the ground” about whether she says anything specific or not. This is as he said there are rumors Congressional Democrats are not going along with the plans she is possibly proposing.