Koch Industries backs lawmakers who want budget to bar border tax

Koch Industries said on Friday that it backs House lawmakers who want a budget resolution to come out against a border adjustment tax (BAT).

“We support the members of the House who have voiced opposition to the budget because it does not explicitly remove the border adjustment tax from consideration,” Koch Industries president of government and public affairs Philip Ellender said in a statement.

“To truly reform our broken tax system, the House must seize this opportunity to put forth a budget that helps Americans improve their lives, rather than imposing more taxes like the proposed border adjustment tax.” {mosads}

The proposal, which would tax imports and exempt exports, was part of the tax-reform blueprint House Republicans released last year. The provision was designed to raise revenue to help pay for lowering tax rates and to remove incentives for companies to shift jobs overseas. But the proposal has also drawn concerns from many GOP lawmakers and businesses. 

The House Budget Committee on Wednesday advanced a budget resolution for fiscal 2018 that would set the stage for deficit-neutral tax reform. However, the measure did not explicitly say that a BAT can’t be part of tax-reform legislation, as members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus had desired.

During the markup of the budget resolution, Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), a Freedom Caucus member, attempted to bring up an anti-BAT amendment. But the effort was dismissed by Budget Committee Chairwoman Diane Black (R-Tenn.) because Sanford’s amendment was not on the list of amendments the panel had planned in advance to consider.

While Sanford and all other Republicans on the Budget Committee voted to approve the budget resolution, it’s unclear whether the measure can pass on the House floor.

Koch Industries and other entities with ties to wealthy GOP donors Charles and David Koch have been advocating against the border-tax proposal for months, arguing that it would amount to a tax on consumers.

“We support comprehensive tax reform, but paying for it with a BAT or any other tax that will force consumers to spend more on everyday essentials is a nonstarter that would create far more problems than it would solve,” Ellender said. “Simply focusing on generating revenue won’t alleviate that burden on taxpayers; cutting spending and simplifying a complicated tax code will.”