One of the more outlandish notions that has emerged from the bowels of the Trumpophilic harkens back to the days before the Sixteenth Amendment (ratified in 1913), when the Federal government was funded (in part) by tariffs .
Although I do not share your opinions totally on tariffs, income tax is a complete joke, especially when barely 47% of working Americans pay it. I’ve been saying for years to abolish the income tax and have taxes on all goods and services. Follow me here. If the income tax is abolished, but a flat tax on all goods and services is imposed, EVERYONE, every single consumer in America, regardless of immigration status or the fact they run cash businesses pays the tax. There are millions and millions of people that evade income taxes for one reason or another, including billion dollar corporations. But impose a tax on goods and services, everyone will be putting into the pot, from the guy who hires illegals to cut your lawn to Jeff bezos. Bezos will pay a tax on anything he needs to buy to run his businesses too. Prices will increase, but we won’t be paying nearly as much as the income taxes we pay. Taxation is literally government theft. I pay them a tax on my hard work? And then pay a tax on the property I “own”? And then when I die, my kids pay taxes on my estate? It’s insane.
There is a good argument for replacing income tax with a consumption tax, and it would move us back toward the days when excise taxes funded the government. But, doing so would require a Constitutional amendment, and I just don't see that happening, if only because it's a bit harder to socially engineer with a consumption tax and Team Blue would have conniptions about "the rich."
I humbly submit that the "unprecedented access to information" is counter-balanced by the inability to analyze and critique that information. There is a ready source to confirm any bias, which also means there is a ready source to counter every bias, too. The volume of information and the ease with which we can access it are inversely proportional to the 'stickiness' of that information and our ability to make sense of it.
Interesting article, Peter. But, although I agree that the idea of tariffs replacing the income tax doesn't pass the sniff test, I'm still pondering other effects.
p.s. I am and always will be a "Made in USA" aficionada.
Nothing wrong with exercising your personal liberty.
The problems, real and purported, that tariffs are being credited with addressing are far more effectively addressed via other means. If one is concerned about domestic vs foreign manufacturing, for example, the answer is to remove the impediments that make domestic manufacturing more expensive and cumbersome, not to penalize consumers by making imported goods more expensive.
Consider raising the minimum wage. Who pays for that? Market forces have already fine-tuned the wage to the job, so raising that wage isn't simply going to come out of employers' pockets.
True dat, but we'll never be able to compete with slave labor unless we implement it ourselves. (Now, THAT's a thought! What a great use of the prison population, eh?)
[in case substack has opinion police, that was a JOKE]
Apart from the "slave labor" being a small part of the big picture, why do we need to compete with it? Address the human rights matters a different way. Tariffs just punish Americans.
As for cheaper labor, again, what's wrong with them selling to us and us buying from them?
“Pretzeling”😁👍 Keep the neologisms coming!
Oh, I use that one a lot.
Although I do not share your opinions totally on tariffs, income tax is a complete joke, especially when barely 47% of working Americans pay it. I’ve been saying for years to abolish the income tax and have taxes on all goods and services. Follow me here. If the income tax is abolished, but a flat tax on all goods and services is imposed, EVERYONE, every single consumer in America, regardless of immigration status or the fact they run cash businesses pays the tax. There are millions and millions of people that evade income taxes for one reason or another, including billion dollar corporations. But impose a tax on goods and services, everyone will be putting into the pot, from the guy who hires illegals to cut your lawn to Jeff bezos. Bezos will pay a tax on anything he needs to buy to run his businesses too. Prices will increase, but we won’t be paying nearly as much as the income taxes we pay. Taxation is literally government theft. I pay them a tax on my hard work? And then pay a tax on the property I “own”? And then when I die, my kids pay taxes on my estate? It’s insane.
There is a good argument for replacing income tax with a consumption tax, and it would move us back toward the days when excise taxes funded the government. But, doing so would require a Constitutional amendment, and I just don't see that happening, if only because it's a bit harder to socially engineer with a consumption tax and Team Blue would have conniptions about "the rich."
Agreed. That’s one of many places where both parties are indistinguishable.
👍
“We are beset upon all sides by morons” Agreed.
I humbly submit that the "unprecedented access to information" is counter-balanced by the inability to analyze and critique that information. There is a ready source to confirm any bias, which also means there is a ready source to counter every bias, too. The volume of information and the ease with which we can access it are inversely proportional to the 'stickiness' of that information and our ability to make sense of it.
Interesting article, Peter. But, although I agree that the idea of tariffs replacing the income tax doesn't pass the sniff test, I'm still pondering other effects.
p.s. I am and always will be a "Made in USA" aficionada.
Nothing wrong with exercising your personal liberty.
The problems, real and purported, that tariffs are being credited with addressing are far more effectively addressed via other means. If one is concerned about domestic vs foreign manufacturing, for example, the answer is to remove the impediments that make domestic manufacturing more expensive and cumbersome, not to penalize consumers by making imported goods more expensive.
Consider raising the minimum wage. Who pays for that? Market forces have already fine-tuned the wage to the job, so raising that wage isn't simply going to come out of employers' pockets.
True dat, but we'll never be able to compete with slave labor unless we implement it ourselves. (Now, THAT's a thought! What a great use of the prison population, eh?)
[in case substack has opinion police, that was a JOKE]
Apart from the "slave labor" being a small part of the big picture, why do we need to compete with it? Address the human rights matters a different way. Tariffs just punish Americans.
As for cheaper labor, again, what's wrong with them selling to us and us buying from them?
I'm a simple flag-waver who chants "USA" in my sleep ...and it makes me feel good to support American craftspeople.
And, again, nothing wrong with that. You and I should be free to transact with whoever we want.