OK, not quite. But the idea of granting a tax holiday for corporations that repatriate income they’ve kept overseas, and on which they have avoided taxes, is one of the worst ideas I’ve heard in a long time. (And that’s saying something in these days and times). It figures, then, that my politically clued-in friends tell me that it’s an idea gaining lots of support on the Hill, even among progressives.

So, what’s wrong with this, aside from the fact that any short-term gain in revenue will be much more than offset by future losses? (Think about the encouragement you’re giving to tax avoiders, who can figure that they too will get a free pass one of these days).

The answer is, it would do absolutely nothing — zip, zero — for job creation.

But, say the advocates, it would put cash in the hands of businesses, which would then invest that cash, right?

Um, aren’t people reading the financial news?

Major corporations — and this is what we’re talking about — are awash in cash, which they aren’t investing in new plant and equipment because they don’t see enough consumer demand to justify expanding capacity. Instead, they’re paying down debt, buying back their own stock, and in general using cash for just about everything except job creation.

So why would you suppose that letting these major corporations slip hundreds of billions of cash past the tax collectors would change anything? The pile of cash they aren’t using would just get bigger.

As I said, this is a truly, truly bad idea, which needs to be killed right now.