No BAT, no VAT
A joint statement from House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and other top Republicans killed two major tax reform ideas.
"We are now confident that, without transitioning to a new domestic consumption-based tax system, there is a viable approach for ensuring a level playing field between American and foreign companies and workers, while protecting American jobs and the U.S. tax base. While we have debated the pro-growth benefits of border adjustability, we appreciate that there are many unknowns associated with it and have decided to set this policy aside in order to advance tax reform," the statement says.
In two sentences, they eliminated two of the most talked-about proposals that Trump and his team had floated.
The idea that's circulating now is that Republicans will put a 44% tax on earnings above $5 million in an effort to sell a tax plan that includes cuts elsewhere. It was leaked as an idea from Bannon.
