Republican lawmakers say they need answers before they can support a plan to overhaul U.S. business taxes — especially in light of arguments from retailers and other companies that the changes would hurt consumers. But a new report suggests solid information may be hard to come by.

There's been little real world analysis on how quickly the U.S. dollar would adjust under a so-called border-adjusted tax to prevent consumers from getting stuck with higher prices, according to a paper released Wednesday by the conservative-leaning Tax Foundation. Even so, the Washington policy group supports the proposal from Republican House leaders that would tax U.S. companies' imports and exempt their exports.

“Surprisingly, there has been little empirical work done on the matter,” Kyle Pomerleau, director of federal projects at the Tax Foundation, said in the report. “The literature suggests that exchange rates would adjust, but it could take time for that to translate through prices. This stickiness could have short-run impacts on consumers and different industries.”