By 8/26/15 4:50 PM
Leaders of the fiscally conservative Club for Growth PAC have accused Donald Trump of pandering to tax-and-spend liberals after promising to levy a tax on Ford vehicles imported from Mexico.
“It should thrill liberals and Democrats everywhere that Trump wants to create new taxes and start a trade war to force American companies to work where he demands,” McIntosh said.
Ford Motors announced a multi-billion dollar initiative in April to build a new transmission facility at its current plant in Chihuahua, Mexico and to expand its diesel production plant at the same location. Other companies in the auto industry, including Toyota and Hyundai, have also moved to erect new facilities in Mexico.
On Tuesday, Trump told supporters in Iowa that he would persuade Ford to move its plant back to the U.S. by taxing “every car, every truck, every part that comes across [the] Southern border,” at a rate of 35 percent.
“I would say very simply, ‘Fellas, sorry, you gotta move back,'” he said. “And I would say that the president of Ford will call me to say ‘Mr. President, we’ve decided to build a plant in the United States.”
“Instead of lowering corporate taxes, cutting unnecessary regulations, and fostering a more profitable environment in the U.S., as some Republican candidates have proposed, Trump wants to unilaterally threaten a major U.S. manufacturer with higher taxes,” McIntosh said.
The free-enterprise advocacy group — which recently announced that it plans to fundraise for Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, and Scott Walker — described Trump’s plan as a “one-up on the Obama pen-and-phone method.”
“If Trump gets his way, the heavy hand of government will get substantially heavier, and car buyers will be left holding the bag,” Club for Growth stated.
The New York business mogul has yet to unveil a detailed economic agenda or explain his plans for tax reform, but told Fox News on Monday that the U.S. has to consolidate its existing tax code.
“We’re going to simplify; that’s the easiest in terms of getting it done. Later on if we go to a flat tax, that’s something else,” he said.