How to pay for lower tax rates

The new President campaigned on a platform of lower tax rates and a simpler tax code.  Simple arithmetic dictates that the tax base must be broadened in order to lower tax rates and maintain the same tax revenue.  The political trick is to find something new to tax.

Even though the same party controls the Presidency and both houses of Congress, there is no agreement on how to broaden the sources of tax revenue.  The focus right now is on the corporate income tax.  The US has one of the highest statutory rates in the world, but it also has a bewildering array of deductions and exclusions.  Paul Ryan has proposed lowering the top rate from 35% to 20% by taxing imports.  This is great news for companies that do not use many raw materials or have supply chains internal to the US.  Not so great news for any company with a global supply chain and terrible news for retailers.

According to Grep Ip in WSJ, another approach would be to raise tax rates on shareholders by taxing dividends and capital gains at the same rate as labor income.  One would think this would play well with the President's supporters.  But would Republicans ever raise taxes on those in the top brackets to pay for a corporate tax cut that would make the US a more attractive business location and create more jobs?