If the products produced by US companies inside the US are going to be taxed at 35%, it is only fair to levy a stiff tax on imports to level the playing field. Allowing imports free access to our markets while levying high taxes on US products is suicide for the American worker and the US economy.
Not only do the factories pouring goods into this nation not pay US taxes. They get a huge free ride on the US taxpayer. The US Navy keeps the sea lanes around the world open for trade. The Coast Guard provides livesaving and security for ships coming in and out of the harbors. The US Army Corps of Engineers keeps the harbors and waterways dredged. The taxpayer builds the roads and bridges used to move the imports to warehouses and stores. The taxpayer builds the airports and provides the air traffic control system the air cargo freighters use. The customs service inspects goods coming into the country.
When free traders get Congress to eliminate tariffs on imports they ignore the subsidies exporting countries provide the factories shipping goods to the US. Zero interest loans, direct cash subsidies for exports, and currency manipulation are a few of the ways China and other nations subsidize their exports to the US. in addition they put up tariff and non tariff barrier to foreign goods seeking access to their markets.
Free traders argue the economy is more efficient when foreign goods have open access to the US market with no tariffs. It is their view the US firms and taxpayers should bear the full cost of the infrastructure supporting trade, plus carry the full tax burden of the federal government, while imports get a free ride. The free ride, plus the direct subsidies by the foreign nations, create a situation where it is impossible for more efficient US factories and US labor to compete. The big lie is “free trade” is a level playing field and economically “fair”. It is not.
We’ve spent the last 20 years with the grand free trade experiment. It has been a disaster for the US taxpayer, for the US economy, and for the US worker. It is time to end it and resume to a tariff system that levels the playing field for US companies and US labor as well as brings in needed revenue to start paying down the deficit.
Alexander Hamilton’s financial plan that paid off the debt of the Revolution included high tariffs and duties on imports. The nation prospered. The US imposed high tariffs after the Civil War. During the 30 years after the Civil War the foundation of the manufacturing infrastructure that powered our economy until the 1980’s was built. The economy boomed and we had high tariffs that paid for most of the cost of the federal government. Instead of piling more taxes on US companies and US citizens, let’s make the importers pay their fair share.
Are you talking about the U.S. corporate income tax? If so, foreign companies pay it for any activity in which they engage in the U.S. (unless there is a specific tax treaty).
So that playing-field is already level. The uneven playing field is created by the U.S. Treasury taxing U.S. companies for their operations overseas, which creates the incentive for them to move away (and creating free-standing foreign subsidiaries).
I totally agree. Tariffs on imported goods help turn the U.S. from an agrarian society to a manufacturing giant and world power. The only people who really bitched about tariffs in the 18th and 19th centuries was the Old South slaveholding gentry. Those bastards became rich with slave labor and by having control over a crop that could not be competed with by the fact that Europe could not really grow its own cotton.
Free trade is worsened by free immigration, failing to close the borders. The constant influx of Third world labor drives down wages while consuming the limited social services budget that would otherwise buoy a smaller number of displaced citizens.