Toyota, Target, Best Buy among giants mounting campaign against import tax

Washington

DAYS before a group of Republican lawmakers were due to discuss their party's controversial proposal to tax all imports, Toyota Motor Corp sent an urgent message to its US dealers - tell the politicians the tax would seriously hurt car buyers.

Some of Toyota's 1,500 dealers heeded the call and contacted members of the House of Representatives' tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, urging them to rethink their proposal, according to people familiar with the effort. Imposing a 20 per cent tax on imports would force consumers to pay potentially thousands of dollars more for vehicles, they warned.

The Japanese automaker's mobilization of its army of dealers underscores the growing alarm among some of the world's largest companies that sell imported goods in the United States. They fear a big tax on imports would hurt their s…