PRICHARD – U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., toured the expanded Allevard Sogefi USA Inc. facility Friday and spoke with employees about tax reform and the positive effects it could have on business growth and expansion.

The plant, located in Prichard, employs 350 workers who manufacture car parts for some of the biggest names in the automobile industry. The items manufactured include everything from engines to fuel pumps and filters, and the plant is helping to produce parts that will pave the way for future vehicles.

"It is terrific for them to invite me to not only see the new manufacturing procedures, but to talk about wages, benefits and workforce development," Capito said. "We've been talking about the effects of tax reform and how this will be a plus for business growth, job growth and wage growth."

Capito voted in favor of the Republican-supported Tax Cuts and Job Act now signed into law by President Donald Trump. The law amended the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 with major elements including reducing tax rates for businesses and individuals; a personal tax simplification by increasing the standard deduction and family tax credits, but eliminating personal exemptions and making it less beneficial to itemize deductions; limiting deductions for state and local income taxes (SALT) and property taxes; further limiting the mortgage interest deduction; reducing the alternative minimum tax for individuals and eliminating it for corporations; reducing the number of estates impacted by the estate tax; and repealing the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Among the changes, it also lowers the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent.

"We have an American facility here ... and it will now be competing with Canada and Mexico in some ways, which both have a higher corporate tax rate than we do," she said. "That makes us more favorable."

Plant manager Troy Thomas said he and the company love hosting elected officials so they have the opportunity to see what goes on behind closed doors.

"We get the opportunity to talk about our customers, our new production and the possibility of more growth," he said. "We are employing many from this area who are experienced in technical trades. They are vital here, and it makes the job interesting."

Capito also stressed the importance of transportation in Prichard and the importance of the Heartland Intermodal facility.

"I am certainly interested in getting the Prichard Intermodal facility up and running," she said. "If it was available for rail transportation and they were able to work it out logistically, I think there is cost saving there.

Obviously, the ease of transportation just being right across the road is huge and there is already a lot of industrial development right across the river, and even though this company wouldn't use the barge, there are other facilities here that would - so the merit is there. We just have to get it rolling."

She added that trips such as the tour of Sogefi allow her to not only see firsthand the businesses in the state, but also be generally informed about what's going on in West Virginia.