And by that reasoning, those living in interior states - even today - pay no taxes/tariffs on the products imported. If that were true, foreign cars, lumber, steel and clothing, and thousands of other products would be cheaper due to the absence of tariffs. People in the coastal states would flock to the interior states to purchase their foreign goods.
Do you think that the importer simply absorbs the tariffs out of the kindness of their heart? It's passed along, regardless of where the tariff is collected and paid, the final consumer pays the tariff.
Careful. It is Wlat you are talking to...the same Wlat who declared yesterday that "a tariff is not a tax,"
...which in Walt-speak means that a tariff is defined as something that is necessary to sustain the precious from losing its power and fading into obscurity.
Very good point! Cost, just like sewage, runs down hill.