I think your analysis is invalid. The existing tax structure encourages the investment in foreign manufacturing capacity. Our tax reform proposal would greatly encourage investment here rather than overseas. I don't see how you can suggest reforming the presently harmful tax system would make the situation worse. It just doesn not follow.
You missed my point. It's a perception issue. Payroll, corporate, et al. taxes disguise the true labor rate in this country. With the proposed tax reform, US labor rates will compare apples to apples with overseas labor rates. As it is now, US wages are publicly perceived to be much lower than they really are. With this proposed reform, the unions will not be able to get away with the semantics of apparent wage rates with respect to actual wage rates (which include payroll, corporate, et al. taxes). No real reduction in wage rates means continuing exodus of manufacturing capacity out of this country. True labor rate reductions, however, will maintain manufacturing in this country.
Shifting the tax burden to the consumer will indeed reduce the cost of manufacturing in this country only through real reductions in labor rates. For the consumer, the proposed tax reform is a boon. For the overpaid, unskilled, union worker in this country, it is a death knell which allows business to point out just how radically overpaid they are.
Until such time as true wage rates are reduced to a level whereby it is economically unviable to manufacture overseas, manufacturing will continue to go overseas to take advantage of cheap labor rates.