Reauthorization of Preferential Tax Treament of Imported Lumber

Guess what?  Good news is on the forefront.  “After months of delay, manufactured home builders will now be able to purchase imported lumber duty free!”  President Obama signed legislation to reauthorize the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (*GSP).  The program will be upheld from October 21, 2011 through July 31st, 2013.

The expiration date of the program was December 31, 2010.  The delay in reauthorizing the program was upheld by a controversy created by the impact on one U.S. producer of one product imported from one GSP beneficiary.  The lapse in the program also concluded in substantial increases in the cost of plywood and other lumber materials.

Sherry Norris – Executive Director of the Alabama Manufactured Housing Association – initiated a grassroots lobbying effort to reauthorize the GSP.

*The GSP is a program that provides preferential duty-free entry for up to 4,800 products including lumber, from 129 designated beneficiary countries and territories.