Politically, it seems to embody the worst of both worlds: It’s enough like Obamacare to infuriate hard-line conservatives,
but it weakens key aspects of the law enough to deprive millions of Americans — many of them white working-class voters who backed Donald Trump — of essential health care.
The case for the cash flow tax is quite technical; among other things, it would remove the incentives the current
tax system creates for corporations to load up on debt and to engage in certain kinds of tax avoidance.
Because the Republicans have belatedly discovered what some of us tried to tell them all along: The only way to maintain coverage
for the 20 million people who gained insurance thanks to Obamacare is with a plan that, surprise, looks a lot like Obamacare.
Then there’s corporate tax reform — an issue where the plan being advanced by
Paul Ryan, the House speaker, is actually not too bad, at least in principle.
Even some Democratic-leaning economists support a shift to a “destination-based
cash flow tax,” which is best thought of as a sales tax plus a payroll subsidy.
But that’s not the kind of thing Republicans talk about — if anything, they’re in
favor of tax avoidance, hence the Trump proposal to slash funding for the I. R.S.