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Tariffs are not taxes: They are import duties imposed upon foreign entities. The courts need to get this right
American Thinker ^ | 09/15/2025 | James T. Moodey

Posted on 09/15/2025 10:13:53 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Democrat lawyers want to define tariffs as taxes because taxes must be approved by Congress, not Trump.

Taxes are imposed upon persons earning income in the U.S. Tariffs are import duties imposed upon foreign entities. They are not taxes. The courts need to get this right.

If the courts says Congress must approve tariffs, Congress will be unable to comply. Tariffs change commonly, and there are 194 countries that will pay tariffs to us. There is no chance that Congress could handle that task, nor should it. Congress’s duty is to approve a rare change of income tax, which is a single tax, not 194 different income taxes.

Democrats might argue that tariffs cause inflation. Despite high tariffs, the most recent monthly inflation rate was only 0.2 percent. That is a 2.4-percent annualized rate, nearly what it was before Biden ran the annualized inflation rate up to 9.6.

This indicates that tariffs have little effect upon inflation. Pundits on both sides and some economists have been saying they are not sure how much inflation tariffs will cause. Or they say, “We must wait and see.”

They overlook what can be explained with a simple micro-economic allegory. Tariffs have little effect on inflation because consumers are not stupid; they are smart shoppers. Say a woman shops at the “ABC store,” which is all American-made goods, and the “XYZ store,” which supplies Chinese goods.

If XYZ store prices rise 30 percent due to tariffs, how fast will she switch to ABC? Almost immediately.

How fast will a corporation react when it loses market share (customers) because Chinese parts drive up the price of their product? Almost immediately. It will seek local suppliers or buy local suppliers.

Tariffs will work as surely as a dropped ball falls to the ground.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: commerce; duties; r; tariffs; tariffsandtaxes; taxes; trade
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1 posted on 09/15/2025 10:13:53 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

The “courts” have no interest in getting it right.


2 posted on 09/15/2025 10:15:18 AM PDT by SaxxonWoods (Annnd....TRUMP IS RIGHT AGAIN.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Incorrect! It is a tax imposed upon the buyer, not the seller. How do I come to think that way? I purchase equipment that is NOT made in in US by any manufacturer, and the import duty is paid by me directly to the US Customs at the port of entry.

I am being punished because the US doesn't manufacture the goods I require.

(Cellular M2M modems)

3 posted on 09/15/2025 10:20:49 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: SeekAndFind

Tariffs increase the costs and prices of imported goods, so they work as a tax on the consumer.


4 posted on 09/15/2025 10:20:53 AM PDT by Jim W N (MAGA by restoring the Gospel of the Grace of Christ (Jude 3) and our Free Constitutional Republic!)
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To: SaxxonWoods

Well the court twisted the law into a pretzel to turn Obongocare into a tax so they could save it. Tariffs are not a tax either so who knows what they will do.


5 posted on 09/15/2025 10:24:16 AM PDT by iamgalt
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To: SeekAndFind

No “foreign entity” pays a tariff.

U.S. customs collects the tariffs at the U.S. port of entry. From who? From the U.S. business entity doing the importing. That makes them no different than a tax whether or not we call them a tax.

Meanwhile, what is the possible negative impact to foreigners from the tariffs against their exports to us. Is it because they pay the tariffs to the U.S. treasury? No, again as already stated they do not pay the tariff. So what may be negative to foreigners is some combination of (1) they will export less to us and/or (2) the U.S. domestic prices for what they export to us may be higher, to help compensate the importer for the cost of the tariff. To the extent the tariffs impact the revenue of foreigners exporting to us, it may impact the GDP of the foreign nations, depending on how much less they imported to us and how much or little they found alternate markets for their exports.

None of that changes the fact. tariffs are a tax even if they are not called a tax - a government imposed duty on goods and services, and they are paid by the U.S. importing companies, not foreign nations.


6 posted on 09/15/2025 10:25:04 AM PDT by Wuli (uire)
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To: SeekAndFind

“…there are 194 countries that will pay tariffs to us.”

Stopped reading right there. The author does not understand the subject. Foreign governments do not pay import tariffs to the US government. Tariffs are paid by either the seller (exporter) or the buyer (importer) of the goods, depending on the terms of sale.


7 posted on 09/15/2025 10:25:23 AM PDT by RAT_Poison
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To: GingisK

Not all sellers pass it on.

Find one.


8 posted on 09/15/2025 10:26:50 AM PDT by Fledermaus ("It turns out all we really needed was a new President!")
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To: RAT_Poison

Foreign governments do pay when they subsidize manufacturers to lower prices before export


9 posted on 09/15/2025 10:27:55 AM PDT by central_va ( I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...a)
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To: SeekAndFind

I agree with the author’s legal analysis—but this is a classic case of where the legal argument and the real world situation is very different.

The author needs to buy a foreign good by mail order.

They will figure out who gets to pay.

Lol.


10 posted on 09/15/2025 10:29:17 AM PDT by cgbg (It was not us. It was them--all along.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Articles like this promote mental retardation. Trying to distinguish between “taxes” and “tariffs” is preposterous.

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the authority to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.” There isn’t any objective way in a court of law to treat tariffs as if they are not covered under this clause. The “duties” here ARE tariffs.

11 posted on 09/15/2025 10:30:01 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("Although my eyes were open, they might just as well be closed.")
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To: iamgalt
Well the court twisted the law into a pretzel to turn Obongocare into a tax so they could save it.

In one part of the ruling Roberts said the individual mandate was NOT a tax for a part of the argument where he argued congress is empowered to tax but in another where taxes cannot be used in the situation he deemed it a mere fee. So according to John Roberts, it's both but only one at a time. This is why people mock him - he clearly ruled outside the law to meet his preferred outcome.

And yeah, he's totally political and could do it again.

12 posted on 09/15/2025 10:30:22 AM PDT by pepsi_junkie ("We want no Gestapo or Secret Police. F. B. I. is tending in that direction." - Harry S Truman)
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To: Jim W N
Tariffs increase the costs and prices of imported goods, so they work as a tax on the consumer.

They can work that way. But they can also just fall on the importer who will swallow the tariff in order to keep his sales up. Or they can fall on the exporter who may swallow the tariff to keep his sales up. Or it can fall on all three.

There is no blanket answer to how tariffs hit.

13 posted on 09/15/2025 10:31:39 AM PDT by Ditto
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To: GingisK

Use your God given brain. Switch to American made products without tariffs. There is NO MANDATE on you to buy Chinese stuff. If tariffs make Chinese stuff expensive, American manufacturers will start producing it here creating higher paid manufacturing jobs, instead of cheaper wage retail jobs to sell Chinese stuff.


14 posted on 09/15/2025 10:32:16 AM PDT by Bobbyvotes (Work is worship! .... Bhagavad Geeta. )
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To: central_va

Those payments are remedied by the imposition of countervailing duties, which can sometimes be over 100-200% (or more!) of the value of the goods. This has been part of US trade law for decades.


15 posted on 09/15/2025 10:32:49 AM PDT by RAT_Poison
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To: Ditto

Or the seller will encourage producing items WITH ZERO TARIFFS by manufacturing in good ole USA.


16 posted on 09/15/2025 10:36:05 AM PDT by Bobbyvotes (Work is worship! .... Bhagavad Geeta. )
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To: SeekAndFind

The Democrats were pro-tariff in the 70s and 80s…especially against Japan.


17 posted on 09/15/2025 10:36:25 AM PDT by kaktuskid
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To: Wuli

What is your proposition for the 194 countries who charge crazy high tariffs to USA made products?

Are you aware that manufacturing is the largest wealth creator in any country not floating on cruise oil? Are you aware that manufacturing jobs pay significantly higher wages than retail jobs selling imported stuff?


18 posted on 09/15/2025 10:41:00 AM PDT by Bobbyvotes (Work is worship! .... Bhagavad Geeta. )
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To: SeekAndFind

Importers pay the tariff, while the leadership of foreign nations bitch and moan about the “unfair tax” for their goods to enter the US market.

“Tough shit” is my answer to both parties. If they don’t like it, find a way around it.


19 posted on 09/15/2025 10:43:25 AM PDT by unclebankster (Globalism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. )
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To: kaktuskid

The Democrats were pro-tariff in the 70s and 80s…especially against Japan.

*******************

They changed by the 1990’s, especially during & after the Slick Willie Presidency.

By the early 2000’s free trade ideology and propaganda held the upper hand, any notion of having robust domestic production of pretty much anything that is essential to civilization was an outlier.


20 posted on 09/15/2025 10:51:43 AM PDT by unclebankster (Globalism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. )
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