President-elect Donald Trump criticized a key component of House Republicans’ tax-reform plan.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Monday, Trump said he is not fond of the “border adjustment” proposal, which would tax imports while exempting exports.
“Anytime I hear border adjustment, I don’t love it,” he told the Journal. “Because usually it means we’re going to get adjusted into a bad deal. That’s what happens."
Trump has called for a corporate tax rate of 15 percent, and he said he doesn’t believe the border adjustment is necessary in addition to lower taxes.
“Under the border adjustment concept, if somebody is making a motorcycle or a plane in our country, they’re getting a credit for the plane they make before they send it over to wherever it’s going,” he said. “And you don’t need that plus lower taxes and everything else.
"And it's too complicated. They get credit on some parts and not other parts. Where was the part made? I don’t want that. I just want it nice and simple.”
Trump's comments come as Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee are working to develop tax-reform legislation that includes the border-adjustment proposal. Tax reform is a top agenda item for both Trump and congressional Republicans, and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and top advisers to Trump met to discuss the topic last week. […]
But House Republicans have been defending the border-adjustment proposal, saying that it would remove incentives for companies to move jobs overseas and make the U.S. tax system more like those of other countries. They view it preferable to the 35-percent tariffs that Trump has floated for companies that move factories to other countries.
Trump’s not alone in his criticism of the plan. Some businesses, including Koch Industries, have lined up against the measure, arguing that border adjustments would raise their tax bills and force them to increase prices for consumers because they rely so much on imported goods.