[WhiskeyPapa]

I see. The federal government was unable to fund itself until it figured out a way to confiscate money from its citizens.

Obviously, you don't.

You don't -ever- have to pay a tariff. You can always buy domestic. There were NO federal taxes in 1790, and there were NO federal taxes in 1860. What Hamilton did in the 1790's was to offer bonds. He paid the interest on those bonds with the tariff revenue. It worked.

However, the so-called CSA DID put export tariffs on cotton -- something strictly forbidden in the U.S. Constitution.

Walt

[wideawake]

You don't have to pay income tax either. You can always take a job that pays less than $13K a year.

A tariff is the government saying: you can't buy certain things until I get my cut. Either way, the government is restricting your free use of your own income.

The Confederate cotton tariff was a response to a military blockade. If the South didn't have to take desperation war measures, it's highly unlikely that any tariff would ever have existed.