I enjoy "The Survival Podcast" by Jack Spirko. The other day he said this. I'm pretty sure I've thought this before but I liked the way he framed. He set the stage like this.
- A tariff is a type of tax.
- Democrats like to talk about taxing the rich, making them pay their fair share.
- Importers pay the tariffs
- Importers aren't poor. These are companies like Walmart for example.
Before I go any further. For those that haven't read my stuff. I hate ALL taxes. Taxation is theft. But not all taxes are structured the same way and some are for destructive than others.
These are facts. Not opinions. Lets start at the first one. A tariff is a tax on imports from a foreign country. They aren't a tax on the country. One reason we aren't seeing massive price spikes on everything is that there's a lot of room for the foreign exporting companies to cut in their margins. There is usually margin in many foreign imports. But the only party paying the tax directly is the US importer.
Democrats constantly talk about taxing the rich and corporations. Of course they should love this but they don't. Why? They say because the cost of the tax is passed down to the consumer and these people are struggling. This is where we get into the nonsense and hypocrisy. We never hear about how any other form of tax affects the prices of goods and thereby the average person. Only when its Trump's tariffs. So these people are just partition hacks(news flash). You can't trust politicians though. We all should know this. These same people will tell you that the cigarette tax provided a dis-incentive to smoke. So they know the effect of taxes. They are just lying about it.
So what? Should you be cheering on tariffs? Should you be supporting Trump? Nah. But don't fall for the nonsense people spew. Tariffs are a tax. They can affect consumers in negative ways. They discourage trade. They aren't good. They have their very negative trade-offs. But truthfully, I'd much rather see tariffs than property taxes, estate taxes, income taxes, or sales taxes. And I do not hear any politicians in either party suggesting those taxes be abolished. If these clowns want to get my attention they might start talking about the invisible tax. Monetary inflation.
Not holding my breath.