Conservatives attack proposed U.S. border tax

Conservatives attack proposed U.S. border tax

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By David Morgan
Reuters April 6, 2017
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FILE - In this March 30, 2017, photo, House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. After their humiliating loss on health care, Republicans in Congress could use a quick victory on a big issue. It won’t be an overhaul of the tax code. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) More

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservative activist groups that generally support Republicans but oppose a pro-export, anti-import Republican tax proposal, released a study on Thursday estimating its impact on individual U.S. states, underscoring the party's division over taxes.

With taxes at the top of Republican priorities, the two groups, backed by the wealthy Koch brothers, reported that seven states won by President Donald Trump in November's election would be among the 10 hardest hit by the proposal.

Freedom Partners and Americans for Prosperity, both based in the Washington area, said the "border adjustment tax," or BAT, would harm all 50 states, but that those heavily dependent on imports could suffer most.

The report predicted economic harm to Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas - all states Trump won in the 2016 presidential election.

The list of hard-hit states also includes California, New Jersey and Illinois, which were carried by Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The study was sharply criticized by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, a Texas Republican who intends to include the BAT in tax reform legislation this spring.

"That so-called study will be easily discredited and probably fits the definition of fake news," Brady told reporters. "It takes one provision, pretends the economy freezes ... applies it in our current tax code and comes up with fantasy figures."

BAT, billed as a way to boost U.S. manufacturing, would exempt export revenues from federal tax, while ending the deductibility of import costs by corporations, making imports for production or resale costlier.

The plan is part of a tax reform blueprint supported by House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan.

Trump is also working on a tax plan.

Billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch have funded both groups behind the study. The Kochs exert strong financial and ideological influence on the Republican Party.

Opposition to BAT from the Kochs and import-dependent industries suggests a rocky road ahead for Trump's stated priority of tax reform.

The proposal is also opposed by a number of Senate Republicans who could prevent its passage, should the House approve a tax reform bill that contains it.

Koch organizations, including the brothers' privately held conglomerate Koch Industries, have warned that BAT could devastate the U.S. economy by raising prices on consumer goods, including gasoline.

Refineries owned by Koch Industries rely on oil imports from Canada.

The Koch groups say they support tax reform but oppose BAT.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ten-u-sta...-business.html

So, some states may be hard hit, in one area. Maybe they will benefit in another area. Maybe if this helps to get the border under control - how much might that help these 'impacted' states.

Personally, I don't think you can put a price on retrieving your country and protecting it's people - that's the impact that is important.

I'm wondering about gasoline prices - how would it make the price of gasoline go up. I mean in a natural way. The price of anything can be manipulated by Wall Street anytime, anyway they see fit. We can be held hostage by them until we scream Uncle and give the lawmakers what the lawmakers wanted in the first place. Not that our voice makes much difference, but it makes it seem we agreed - even if it is by extortion.

LOL!!! Sorry JD2 and Koch Brothers, but it is free trade and the deficits it causes that has already destroyed the US economy,while tariffs and border adjustment taxes correct that inequity that would otherwise continue to cost us our manufacturers, our money supply and our good jobs. Koch Brothers can figure out how to buy some American-produced oil and save their border taxes if they choose. Trump is expanding energy development, has approved 2 new pipelines, includes the Dakota Access Pipeline. There are others in the works, so Koch Brothers should have plenty of American-oil resources for their refineries.

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Originally Posted by nntrixie

. . . I'm wondering about gasoline prices - how would it make the price of gasoline go up. I mean in a natural way.

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There would be a border tax on all of the oil we import from Canada, Mexico and any other country. We refine that oil into gas and the price of the oil tax is added on to the cost of the gas.

How much petroleum does the United States import and export? - FAQ ...

2 days ago - About 78% of gross petroleum imports were crude oil. ...imports in 2016 were Canada, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico, and Colombia.

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Originally Posted by Judy

. . . Koch Brothers can figure out how to buy some American-produced oil and save their border taxes if they choose. Trump is expanding energy development, has approved 2 new pipelines, includes the Dakota Access Pipeline. There are others in the works, so Koch Brothers should have plenty of American-oil resources for their refineries.

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The Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone XL Pipeline move Canadian oil which would have to pay the border tax.

Would the Dakota Access Pipeline Help Canadian Oil Producers ...

Jan 27, 2017 - Would the Dakota Access Pipeline Help Canadian Oil Producers? ... to move cheap, sludgy crude from the tar sands plants in Alberta, Canada, ...

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Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

The Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone XL Pipeline move Canadian oil which would have to pay the border tax.

Would the Dakota Access Pipeline Help Canadian Oil Producers ...

Jan 27, 2017 - Would the Dakota Access Pipeline Help Canadian Oil Producers? ... to move cheap, sludgy crude from the tar sands plants in Alberta, Canada, ...

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The Keystone XL pipeline picks up American oil, too, that is its primary purpose:

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Phase 4
Keystone XL Pipeline
(Phase 4)[26]
Location
From Hardisty, Alberta
Passes through Baker, Montana
To Steele City, Nebraska
General information
Type Crude oil
Contractors WorleyParsons
Construction started Unknown
Expected Unknown
Technical information
Length 1,897 km (1,179 mi)
Diameter 36 in (914 mm)

The proposed Keystone XL pipeline starts from the same area in Alberta, Canada, as the Phase 1 pipeline.[18] The Canadian section would consist of 526 kilometres (327 mi) of new pipeline.[27] It would enter the United States at Morgan, Montana, and travel through Baker, Montana, where American-produced oil would be added to the pipeline; then it would travel through South Dakota and Nebraska, where it would join the existing Keystone pipelines at Steele City, Nebraska.[1] This phase has generated the greatest controversy because of its routing over the Sandhills in Nebraska.[28][29][30]

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline#Phase_4

The Dakota Access Pipeline is All American Oil:

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The Dakota Access Pipeline or Bakken pipeline is a 1,172-mile-long (1,886 km) underground oil pipeline project in the United States. The route begins in the Bakken shale oil fields in northwest North Dakota and travels in a more or less straight line south-east, through South Dakota and Iowa, terminating at the oil tank farm near Patoka, Illinois. The pipeline is currently under construction by Dakota Access, LLC, a Houston, Texas based company and subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. The minor partners involved in the project are Phillips 66, Enbridge, and Marathon Petroleum. The project was planned for delivery by January 1, 2017.[4] On November 26, 2016, the project was reported to be 87% completed.[5]

The $3.78 billion project was announced to the public on June 25, 2014, and informational hearings for landowners took place between August 2014 and January 2015.[6]

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_Access_Pipeline

The Dakota Access Pipeline has nothing to do with Canada, it's All American and the Keystone XL Pipeline was part of the deal to allow American Oil to enter the Keystone so American producers could benefit.

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Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

There would be a border tax on all of the oil we import from Canada, Mexico and any other country. We refine that oil into gas and the price of the oil tax is added on to the cost of the gas.

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So, why are we importing oil? We are awash in oil in this country.

A bigger question - why are we exporting gasoline? It would seem to me if you have to export oil in order to make gasoline - then why sell that gasoline, making it necessary to import oil to make more gas -

I don't get that.

Actually, I'm not asking IF we are - I'm asking WHY we are?

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Originally Posted by nntrixie

. . . A bigger question - why are we exporting gasoline? . . .

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American companies export gasoline because they can make more profit.

U.S. refiners cash in on Mexico's record fuel imports

Let us move on to renewable energy sources even more than we have so far, the jobs are abundant and to hell with the dirty tar sands oil thru our country with all the spill risks, eminent domains involved.

This is the 21st century, stock holders progress your portfolios to renewable, clean sources. Cutie justin trudeau apparently has the brain of a hockey puck - to destroy the most unique forests on this entire planet, the Boreal forest, and its eco-system for corporate profits. He still allows for baby seals to be batted to the head till death to take their skins even though outlawed to buy almost everywhere.