The President-elect confirms a 35 percent tax on companies who leave the US. In a series of tweets yesterday, Donald Trump promised corporate tax cuts across the board, but also a 35 percent the tax on “any business that leaves our country for another country, fires its employees, [or] builds a new factory or plant in the other country, and ... sell[s] its product back into the U.S.” He reaffirmed this “retribution” in the wake of his agreement with Carrier to keep 800 jobs in Indiana in exchange for state tax incentives. 

About that Carrier deal … TPC’s Norton Francis warns that “Trump’s plan to make the US more competitive will be negotiated one company at a time. So line up outside Trump Tower and take a number.” Indeed, Vice-President-elect Pence confirmed yesterday on ABC’s This Week that Donald Trump will make decision to intervene with companies talking of moving jobs overseas “on a day-by-day basis.”

California will soon have a state-managed savings plan for private sector workers. TPC’s Gene Steuerle says that the plan will help secure retirement coverage for those who need it the most, but it “faces limits that would be better served through federal reform.” The problem: Big deficits combined with federal budget rules make a national solution difficult.  

Iowa may soon tax e-book sales. State legislators and state revenue department officials are discussing a proposal to tax digital products sold by companies with a physical presence in Iowa, such as Barnes & Noble and Apple. Iowa isn’t alone: This past summer, Pennsylvania started collecting sales tax on apps, e-books, music, and other digital downloads with the hope of increasing stat tax revenue by $47 million.

India’s new goods and services tax hits a snag. A two-day meeting between India’s finance minister Arun Jaitley and state officials did not result in a decision on who will administer the tax. State officials are not yet willing to give up their role in tax collection. Jaitely doesn’t want multiple agencies working at cross-purposes.

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