A modest suggestion for House Republicans

DallasBlog.com | Tom Pauken:

“The [trade] deficit ballooned by $108 billion over the preceding year. Meanwhile, Russia, Germany, Japan and China all reported trade surpluses. Isn’t anyone in Washington concerned that we are losing our manufacturing base in this country? Where are the leaders of either party addressing the disadvantage our domestic manufacturers face in competing with trading partners who have a 17% or more built-in edge over U.S. domestic companies because of our flawed corporate tax system which has the perverse incentive of encouraging U.S. companies to ship jobs overseas. Isn’t it time our policymakers started listening to Texas businessman David Hartman who has offered a sound proposal to rebuild our manufacturing base by replacing our current corporate income tax with a border-adjusted tax?”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Republicans are interested in cutting taxes. Democrats are interested in preserving entitlements. These are their larger interests. Tax reform is held hostage in the middle. Any discussion of tax reform is going to be used by both sides as an opening to secure an advantage for their larger interests, rather than a means to rebuild our manufacturing base, on which the two sides might otherwise find common ground. As long as this dynamic holds, tax reform is out of reach. It's like two men drowning because each believes it more important to keep the other out of the lifeboat that could easily have saved them both.