I am just saying the fact that the promise that US taxpayers would not be on the hook for the cost and was is being asked is for just exactly the opposite now.
It could give some in congress reason to say no and try to score some political hay by pointing it out
And a tariff on imports from Mexico is for all practical purposes a tax on US citizens.
Closed factories and 'displaced' US workers are a tax on US citizens.
If Trump is successful in tapping other sources of funding from Mexico to pay for the wall, how does that put the taxpayer on the hook? And the reality is that illegal immigration is costing the taxpayers more than $130 billion a year just in healthcare, education, and incarceration. Even if the wall cost $50 billion, its costs will be amortized in less than a year.
And a tariff on imports from Mexico is for all practical purposes a tax on US citizens.
This is the free trade, open borders argument. Mexico puts a tariff on our goods even under NAFTA. Over 100 countries put "border taxes" on imported US goods and we don't reciprocate. Let's create an even playing field. Moreover, there are other ways to get the money as I indicated, i.e., a surcharge on US visas for Mexicans to build the wall. We have issued over 4 million Border Crossing Cards (BCCs) to Mexicans who commute almost daily to the US. There are millions of other visas issued to Mexicans every year. And then there are $27 billion in remittances sent to Mexico every year.