The chief executive at America’s largest steel manufacturer was tired of politicians just talking about building new roads and bridges. Nucor’s Leon Topalian told investors in April that a federal infrastructure deal “must get done,” and his firm was eager to help, The Washington Post reported. “There is arguably no company more poised and ready to meet the needs of rebuilding our country than Nucor,” Topalian said. But he didn’t want Nucor hit with a higher tax rate to help pay for the flood of public projects, even though the steelmaker already managed to pay no U.S. income taxes last year. At least a dozen profitable major U.S. companies like Nucor paid little or no U.S. income tax in 2020 — or, in some cases, over several years — and are active in industry groups that object to helping fund with taxes the same public projects they want to profit from. At AECOM, the engineering firm’s leader recently told investors that he expected a major boost to the bottom line from an infrastructure deal. Weyerhaeuser’s chief executive called it “a nice little tail wind for us.” And huge contracting firm Tutor Perini’s chief executive recently said it would be great for his business, too. These companies — construction and engineering firms, along with manufacturers — support a deal to fix America’s crumbling bridges and antiquated water pipes that will give them a surge in new business. They also belong to industry groups that argue against raising corporate taxes to fund new infrastructure projects, claiming it will hurt their ability to compete against foreign firms — three years after U.S. corporate tax bills were slashed to the lowest level in more than half a century.
