Battle Lines Take Shape, Fight Heats Up Over Border Adjustable Tax Proposal

John Veroneau was a panelist at the Washington International Trade Association’s “Border Adjustment Taxes: Tax Reform and Trade” event and is quoted in an Inside U.S. Trade article examining the tax proposal. According to Veroneau, the WTO-consistency of the tax plan could influence its fate in the Congress, adding that a loss at the WTO would cut into any of the plan's potential gains while the near certainty of a challenge alone raises the political stakes of the plan's compatibility." Even companies that are favorably inclined to this tax proposal are going to quite likely say we don't want to rewire our business only to find ourselves in three or five years having to rewire it again to comply with a WTO ruling.” Furthermore, a loss in a such a dispute would likely invite retaliation on a massive scale, Veroneau said.