Koch Industries, owned by influential Republican donors Charles and David Koch, has warned that part of Congressional Republicans’ plan to change corporate tax rates “could be devastating” to the United States economy, Bloomberg Politics reported on Thursday.
Republicans in Congress are considering a plan that would apply corporate taxes to imports but remove them from exports in an attempt to keep U.S. companies from moving abroad.
In a statement to Bloomberg Politics, Koch Industries said that the proposed change, called “border adjustments,” would “adversely impact American consumers by forcing them to pay higher prices on products produced in and goods imported to the U.S. that they use every single day.”
In response to the Koch statement, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, said that he would like to work with the Kochs on changes to the tax code.
“This pro-growth idea is a key provision that improves our global competitiveness and helps level the playing field for exports and imports,” Brady told Bloomberg Politics in a statement. “It also meets our shared goal to eliminate any tax incentive to move our jobs, headquarters and innovation offshore. I look forward to working with Koch Industries and all job creators as we continue to turn our blueprint into legislation.”
The proposal from Republicans was floated in June, and Trump did not include border adjustments in his tax plan. But the President-elect has said he will try to create incentives for companies to stay in the U.S.
