AGC President Larry Gaskins will participate in next week's Economic Forum with President Bush in Waco, Texas. In the plenary session and a smaller meeting beforehand hosted by Treasury Secretary O'Neill, he is expected to describe the major role of construction in the economy (5 percent of jobs, 8 percent of GDP) and several steps to enable construction to remain a key player in the recovery.
These include: continuation of income and estate tax rate cuts, bonus depreciation and 5-year net operating loss carrybacks; adoption of tax accounting simplification for long-term contracts; enactment of higher infrastructure investment levels for highways, airports, security, energy and environmental programs; and passage of a federal backstop for terrorism insurance.