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Well it looks like Paul Ryan can't balance the budget with tax reform without the Border Adjustment Tax and it's dividing the GOP.
He's also hoping Trump won't put forth any plan because he's scared of what it will be.
On one side people want revenue neutral tax reform and on the other side people want to protect American purchasing power.
Will the GOP fail to pass the biggest issue they had on their platform?
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/paul-ryan-tax-reform-republicans-235117
The sequence was an ominous sign for a linchpin of Ryan’s tax plan — and perhaps for the prospects of tax reform happening at all. The border adjustment tax would generate more than a trillion dollars over a decade; there’s no obvious way to replace that money, which is needed to help pay for a steep cut in corporate and income taxes.
In meetings with administration officials and Senate leaders, Ryan has framed his proposal as a compromise between a tariff, which the president wants, and conservative orthodoxy against border taxes. He has suggested it's in keeping with President Donald Trump’s “America first” mantra, since it would reward American manufacturers that make products here and sell it abroad.
But the idea is sharply dividing Republicans — even within the White House.
Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon likes it, but the president’s chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, is opposed, according to people who have talked with them. Trump himself has acknowledged he doesn’t think much of the proposal, though he has said he will keep an open mind.
Many Republican senators say privately they detest the concept, fretting that it will hurt their in-state retailers like Walmart, which is headquartered in Cotton's state of Arkansas. Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), sources said, has warned Trump and Ryan that border adjustment won't likely have the support needed to clear the Senate.
Hatch, in an interview after Ryan's presentation, said the speaker “didn’t cover [the border adjustment proposal] as specifically as I would have liked.” And Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the fifth-ranking GOP senator, said the Finance Committee will likely go a “different way.”
Others were more unequivocal.
“It’s beyond a complication. It’s a bad economic proposition,” said Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.).
That’s not to mention Ryan’s issue in his own chamber. A handful of Ways and Means Republicans — including some with close ties to Trump — are fretting that retailers slapped with an import tax will ultimately pass the cost onto consumers. One member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio), asked his chairman Wednesday to hold hearings on the proposal.
The clock is ticking for Ryan. Senior House Republican sources told POLITICO that if the border adjustment proposal is not included in Trump’s tax blueprint, set to be unveiled in the coming weeks, it could be even tougher to rally Republicans to the idea. Supporters of Ryan’s proposal are crossing their fingers that Trump doesn’t introduce a detailed tax plan at all, worried it could complicate their work.
A source familiar with the White House’s thinking said it’s unlikely Trump would try to push through the border-adjustment tax if key administration officials and senators are still divided over it.
“It’s fair to say there’s a lot of questions about how it would work and the assumptions on which it’s based,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas).
During a news conference Thursday, Ryan downplayed questions about opposition to the border adjustment tax and argued some people simply don’t understand how it works. Holding up reporters’ tape recorders as props, he explained how an American-made recorder is taxed much more than a Japanese product. His idea, he added, would make American businesses more competitive worldwide.
Senior House Republican sources who back him say the House has been working on tax reform for years and has already considered numerous financing mechanisms. But all of them have set off firestorms within various industries. A border adjustment tax, they say, is the best option on a limited menu.
Without it, they contend, tax reform will die.
He's also hoping Trump won't put forth any plan because he's scared of what it will be.
On one side people want revenue neutral tax reform and on the other side people want to protect American purchasing power.
Will the GOP fail to pass the biggest issue they had on their platform?
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/paul-ryan-tax-reform-republicans-235117
The sequence was an ominous sign for a linchpin of Ryan’s tax plan — and perhaps for the prospects of tax reform happening at all. The border adjustment tax would generate more than a trillion dollars over a decade; there’s no obvious way to replace that money, which is needed to help pay for a steep cut in corporate and income taxes.
In meetings with administration officials and Senate leaders, Ryan has framed his proposal as a compromise between a tariff, which the president wants, and conservative orthodoxy against border taxes. He has suggested it's in keeping with President Donald Trump’s “America first” mantra, since it would reward American manufacturers that make products here and sell it abroad.
But the idea is sharply dividing Republicans — even within the White House.
Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon likes it, but the president’s chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, is opposed, according to people who have talked with them. Trump himself has acknowledged he doesn’t think much of the proposal, though he has said he will keep an open mind.
Many Republican senators say privately they detest the concept, fretting that it will hurt their in-state retailers like Walmart, which is headquartered in Cotton's state of Arkansas. Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), sources said, has warned Trump and Ryan that border adjustment won't likely have the support needed to clear the Senate.
Hatch, in an interview after Ryan's presentation, said the speaker “didn’t cover [the border adjustment proposal] as specifically as I would have liked.” And Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the fifth-ranking GOP senator, said the Finance Committee will likely go a “different way.”
Others were more unequivocal.
“It’s beyond a complication. It’s a bad economic proposition,” said Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.).
That’s not to mention Ryan’s issue in his own chamber. A handful of Ways and Means Republicans — including some with close ties to Trump — are fretting that retailers slapped with an import tax will ultimately pass the cost onto consumers. One member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio), asked his chairman Wednesday to hold hearings on the proposal.
The clock is ticking for Ryan. Senior House Republican sources told POLITICO that if the border adjustment proposal is not included in Trump’s tax blueprint, set to be unveiled in the coming weeks, it could be even tougher to rally Republicans to the idea. Supporters of Ryan’s proposal are crossing their fingers that Trump doesn’t introduce a detailed tax plan at all, worried it could complicate their work.
A source familiar with the White House’s thinking said it’s unlikely Trump would try to push through the border-adjustment tax if key administration officials and senators are still divided over it.
“It’s fair to say there’s a lot of questions about how it would work and the assumptions on which it’s based,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas).
During a news conference Thursday, Ryan downplayed questions about opposition to the border adjustment tax and argued some people simply don’t understand how it works. Holding up reporters’ tape recorders as props, he explained how an American-made recorder is taxed much more than a Japanese product. His idea, he added, would make American businesses more competitive worldwide.
Senior House Republican sources who back him say the House has been working on tax reform for years and has already considered numerous financing mechanisms. But all of them have set off firestorms within various industries. A border adjustment tax, they say, is the best option on a limited menu.
Without it, they contend, tax reform will die.
