Ahem. I Was Wrong.

It seems 45 will get a tax bill to sign at some point later today, or tomorrow. [But this is by no means a tax "reform" bill.]

I can claim a smallish moral victory, in that almost all polled about it expect that it will be substantially reworked, in the coming months and years -- if for no other reason than that it is chock-full of gimmicky expiration dates. It will have to be re-jiggered to handle the sunset dates.

This -- in turn -- (as I said before) likely means that the tax bill these people have jammed through won't incentivize much longer term corporate planning behavior. Trump will tout it as a YYYUUUGGEE victory, but I doubt many of the biggest companies expect that it will last -- so they may not alter their stance much, in reliance upon it. That's my take.

Moreover, I do expect it to be substantially undone (or reworked, at least) immediately after the 2018 mid-terms. But we shall see. I did guess wrong. [I should say that -- as to Merck -- I do expect Mr. Frazier will take advantage of the 15.5 per cent tax rate gift, and promptly repatriate a large chunk of its parked overseas earnings. That said, I doubt Merck will close its tax haven operations, as the newly-revamped now territorial system may or may not survive after the 2018 mid-terms.]

Oh. And apparently the old Merck HQ -- at 1 million plus square feet -- is again under contract, this time to a West Coast based IT conglomerate. Good news (if they can get the deal closed) for the residents, and their local tax base. Onward.

नमस्ते