If it was good enough for our founding fathers, it’s good enough for me.
Abolish the income tax. Reinstate tariffs. Let China pay our debts.
“Abolish the income tax. Reinstate tariffs. Let China pay our debts.”
Like all taxes on goods, it’s the people who buy the goods who pay the taxes. Let’s say our popcorn is grown and packaged in West Moronica. It normally sells for a dollar a package. It cost West Moronica 25 cents to grow and package it. It costs WM 25 cents to ship. It costs another 15 cents to market and distribute. WM makes .35 profit. Now the government decides to help Iowa compete by charging a tariff of 25 cents to WM. That is added to the cost. The consumer now pays $1.25. West Morinica may see a drop in sales. But chances are, Iowa, which could perform all of the production, distribution and marketing costs for 50 cents and sell profitably at .75 will, instead price its product at $1-$1.2.
Domestic producers lobby for tariffs primarily so they can raise their own prices.
Tariffs and taxes are bad for the consumers and may or may not be good for the producers. The producers may see an increase in profit, but they also have no incentive to improve their product or processes. We saw and still see this in automobiles. There was no essential improvement in the US automobiles until the Japanese started producing a superior product and a better dealership experience. Oh, let’s not forget ergonomic seats even in the low end models and innovations like cup holders and pockets to store things. How much innovation would that have taken Ford or GM? They didn’t care about the consumer until somebody started taking those consumers away.
China won't. U.S. consumers would. So go with the Fair Tax instead.