To the medical device industry in Massachusetts
Massachusetts’ medical device industry is banking on a now-Republican-controlled U.S. Senate to repeal a federal tax that costs Bay State companies hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
A bipartisan group of senators led by Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) filed long-expected legislation yesterday to rescind the
2.3 percent medical device tax enacted in 2013 to help fund the Affordable Care Act.
“This is very important legislation to the medical device industry in Massachusetts,” said Tom Sommer, president of the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council. “We’ve seen workforce expansion plans stalled ... moves by companies offshore to less costly manufacturing venues and ... reductions in research and development spending.”
Massachusetts has the nation’s second largest concentration of medical device manufacturing after California. Medical devices are the state’s No. 1 exported commodity, accounting for 14.5 percent of goods shipped from the state, according to the council. Some 24,000 employees work at 400 medical device companies, with another 75,000 employed in industry-related jobs.
Identical legislation filed in the last session of Congress passed the House but wasn’t considered by the Senate. The legislation proposed yesterday also mirrors a bill introduced in the House last week by Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minnesota).
Hub think tank the Pioneer Institute estimated in a 2013 report that the tax costs the state’s 19 largest medical device companies $425 million in annual levies. “If it were to be repealed, it would have pretty significant impact in Massachusetts,” senior fellow Joshua Archambault said.