Report: GOP split over border adjustment tax

Health care reform is not the only issue dividing conservatives; President Trump’s proposed border adjustment tax is apparently causing another split within the GOP.

House Republicans have floated a plan as part of their broad tax overhaul package to impose a tax that would provide tax breaks to U.S. companies that export their products to other countries and would take away tax breaks from those that import products from abroad. The White House suggested it would be one way to pay for the proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The political network run by Charles and David Koch has three groups that have argued against the tax, with one launching a lobbying campaign that claims it would lead to a $1.2 trillion tax on the working poor and seniors, according to a report published by The New York Times. The groups against it are Americans for Prosperity, Generation Opportunity and the Libre Initiative.

The report notes that Koch and other conservative groups have opposed the border tax because they believe it would ultimately hurt the U.S. economy.

After Republicans’ failure to pass legislation last month to repeal and replace Obamacare, they said they would still keep working on health care but also move on to tax reform. On Friday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the president hasn’t taken an official position yet on the border adjustment tax.

“We’ve been studying it very carefully. But I don’t believe the president has taken a position on it just yet,” he said.