As the 112th Congress came to a close in early January they failed to pass a new miscellaneous tariff bill (MTB) package that would prevent taxes from increasing on manufacturers in the United States. The MTB provides tariff relief to manufacturers on critical inputs that are not available in the United States, helping manufacturers better compete and create jobs.
Exxel sleeeping bag inspector examining a bag on the conveyor belt.
Exxel Outdoors is a manufacturer that would benefit from a new MTB package. Exxel makes outdoor products such as sleeping bags, tents and hunting and fishing apparel. They are the only company that produces mass-market sleeping bags domestically, at their factory in Haleyville, Alabama. Exxel Alabama manufacturers over two million family-style sleeping bags annually.
Exxel’s sleeping bag production requires the use of materials and inputs that aren’t available domestically. The MTB would help Exxel lower costs, enabling the company to better compete against growing global competition.
“We depend on raw materials that just cannot be sourced here in the U.S. to manufacture our sleeping bags domestically,” said Harry Kazazian, founder and CEO of Exxel Outdoors. “We have approximately 100 employees at our Haleyville facility, and we have plans to expand our operations and add more jobs here. Passage of the MTB would help us keep costs down, allowing us to be more competitive with other countries and to expand faster.”
Kazazian is hopeful that Congress will act as quickly as possible to pass the MTB to help manufacturers create jobs. Exxel faces competition from all over the world, and is already 20 percent more expensive to manufacture in the United States compared to our largest trading partners. The MTB would help to bring those costs to manufacture in the U.S. down.
Kazazian stated, “We need Congress to act expeditiously to help create American manufacturing jobs at a critical time for our economy.”
