WASHINGTON, D.C. The United States (US) tourism industry has been hit hard since there was a terrorist attack in 2001. Corona virus outbreak or called Covid-19 is also predicted to worsen the industry. To that end, US President Donald Trump began to provide tax relief for the airlines industry, travel agencies and cruise ships.
According to Reuters.com, tax reduction is aimed to help companies from industries related which the economic activities were disrupted due to the spread of Covid-19. The effort in reducing the tax may consist of tax deferral. Tax deferral is one of the solutions that currently being weighed by the government in overcoming economic pressures that can reduce the level of public consumption.
White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said, it was too early to determine the scale of the current US economic slowdown. As overall, US economic fundamentals remain strong. However, he revealed that he was concerned about some of the parties most affected by the movement of Covid-19, transferring small businesses, airlines and residents who lost wages as they must stay at home.
"We are worried about small businesses. We are also worried about some sectors of the economy that have really been hit. There are many things we can do for cash flow needs, there may be deferred taxes, and we can arrange a mechanism to do that," Kudlow said.
Even so, Kudlow did not discuss certain types of industries that could get tax relief. He only urged the government to ask for additional funding for micro-assistance for small businesses.
In dealing with the effects of the corona virus, the Federal Reserve (The Feds) decided to cut the interest rate, 50 basis points (bps) this week. US and global market conditions have also worsened over the past two weeks due to the spread of the corona virus outside China. The collapse of the US stock market is the impact of investor fears of an outbreak that has killed more than 3 thousand people worldwide.
Regarding the handling of Covid-19, Trump has agreed to a policy that contains a grant of USD 8.3 billion to increase the country's capacity to examine the corona virus. The funds were also used to make efforts to stem the outbreak that has now killed 15 Americans and hit 22 states. (ken)
