The highest-income households — the top 0.1 percent — would get “an average tax cut of about $1.3 million, 16.9 percent of
after-tax income.” By contrast, those in the middle fifth of incomes would get a 0.5 percent tax cut, worth about $260.
For anyone who thinks that Republican control of the presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives means
that an overhaul of the tax code will zip through at bobsled speed, there is an important phrase to remember:
“Blah, blah, blah, blah.”
That was the reaction of the Republican speaker of the House, John A. Boehner of Ohio, in 2014 to a sweeping overhaul
of the federal tax code proposed by the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee — and a member of his own party.
The estate tax, which affects the top 0.2 percent sliver of households, would disappear, as would most itemized deductions, including one
that allows the deduction of state and local taxes — dear to anyone who lives where there is a state or city income tax.
The border adjustment tax — a complex arrangement that would have the effect of adding a 20 percent tax to any imports sold in the United States
and nothing on exports — has drawn support from agriculture, manufacturing and technology businesses like General Electric, Boeing, Dow Chemical and Oracle.
The companies are exporters and argue that the move would “support American jobs and American-made products.”
Sectors that rely heavily on imports — retailers, foreign carmakers
and oil interests led by the billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch — have declared war on the idea, saying it would hurt consumers by raising prices.
