, Columnist
Trump Is Right: 'Border Adjustment' Tax Is Complicated
House Republicans say it’s just like a value-added tax. Here’s why it isn’t.
Coming and going.
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Donald Trump recently called the so-called border adjustment in the House Republican tax-reform plan “too complicated.” He’s got that right: The proposal to incorporate border-tax adjustments into business taxes has created infighting among some usually tight industry associations.
Economists are busy running models to simulate it, but they can’t find enough detail in the blueprint to get an accurate forecast. Trade lawyers are contemplating a host of lucrative cases at the World Trade Organization that would arise because the plan is outside of international rules. And Congress is swooning over the hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue it will yield.