Innovation should be rewarded and the U.S. government should use federal funds to foster a culture of discovery. Virtually everyone agrees with this broad premise. But, as with many things on Capitol Hill, the devil is in the details.
On that note, let’s talk about the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit. Every couple of years, Congress votes to extend the so-called R&D Credit—a significant tax break for corporations that invest in research and development. Beneficiaries of the credit include many of the usual suspects (think Boeing and Dow Chemical) but also small businesses and even tech start-ups.
