It would incent our heroic "Captains of Industry" to consider building new plants, possible more automated ones, in Right-To-Work states. It would also lower FedGov™ dependency on income taxes. Which would alleviate the lower purchasing power argument. It would lower our deficit. So I am in favor of import tariffs. Just like our very long sighted and wise founding fathers.
I’m afraid I agree more with agere_contra’s point of view. The major stumbling block to our manufacturing capabilities is the massive tax and regulatory burden we place on them. Crashing the service economy by raising the prices of every thing we import would not suddenly make manufacturing in the United States profitable.
Wrong.
That will not happen unless either:
1) You can get and keep a Tea Party Congress (both House and Senate) as well as the Presidency for however long the tariffs are in place. (I am here assuming the Tea Party would reduce income taxes by the same amount as projected revenues from the tariffs. And I am assuming said Tea Party, once in power, would not be corrupted as has most of the GOP.) Of course if the tariffs are successful, they will, like "deterrent" level cigarette taxes, generate less revenue every subsequent year.
or;
2) The tariffs crash the economy and lower income taxes are enacted to try to revive it.
Assuming neither "1" or "2" occur:
Higher tariffs might reduce the Federal income tax as a % of Federal revenue, but they will not reduce Federal income tax as a % out of the economy, or in absolute money confiscated from taxpayers, because the added money from tariffs will simply be used to grow the gov't.
Why? How?
Tariffs are essentially hidden taxes, sort of like the front end of a VAT. They'd be most politicians' wet dream, were not the other negatives so high. (This includes negatives to the politicians -- I should not need to spell them out.)
I'm afraid that you completely ignore the history and nature of (most) Government.