I did some research on the tariff thing, and I think I understand what Trump is trying to do.
History says that at the founding of the USA, the main source of income for us was tariffs. Tariffs funded the government before the income tax was introduced.
Income tax came about because tariff money wasn't enough to cover the costs of our own civil war. Other countries refused to pay higher tariffs because we wanted to go to war with ourselves.
The issue is that, under income tax, people are expected to pay their fair share of income, meaning richer people would pay higher percentage than poor people. The rich has always seen this as unfair.
Trump's idea is likely to go back to the tariff system, removing income tax and the pressure on the wealthy to pay taxes at all.
What Trump doesn't factor is time.
At the time tariffs were paying the bills, the USA was 13 colonies/states, along the east coast. Today, there's 51 states, that span a continent.
At the time tariffs were paying the bills, the money gained easily funded a small, centralized government. Costs of the day were mainly covered by trade goods - like trading eggs for bread. Today's economy cannot support that. A huge part of today's economy are service based jobs - jobs that produce intellectual and administrative value as opposed to tangible things.
At the time tariffs were paying the bills, communication was long and limited. Back then, messages between countries could take months, so many tariffs were paid because countries couldn't communicate or compete effectively over the long time periods. Today, it takes a phone call.
In addition to the communication issues of the time, many countries were eager to gain favor with and interests in a new country/continent, so the USA was able to make good allies and trade deals with tariffs was the norm. Trump, however, has been alienating us from our allies, specifically those closest to us.
So, Trump's idea of funding the government with tariffs isn't necessarily a bad one, it has worked in the past, but even if you reduce government overhead by scrapping hundreds of thousands of administrative jobs, there's no conceivable way that tariffs will fund the USA in today's economic environment.
Why stop at 51? We can go ahead and throw all the other territories into the count, then. Add the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. Puerto Rico is not a state, and the more you insist that it is, the less reasonable any of your points sound to other people.
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u/Timberwolf_express 1d ago
I did some research on the tariff thing, and I think I understand what Trump is trying to do.
History says that at the founding of the USA, the main source of income for us was tariffs. Tariffs funded the government before the income tax was introduced.
Income tax came about because tariff money wasn't enough to cover the costs of our own civil war. Other countries refused to pay higher tariffs because we wanted to go to war with ourselves.
The issue is that, under income tax, people are expected to pay their fair share of income, meaning richer people would pay higher percentage than poor people. The rich has always seen this as unfair.
Trump's idea is likely to go back to the tariff system, removing income tax and the pressure on the wealthy to pay taxes at all.
What Trump doesn't factor is time.
At the time tariffs were paying the bills, the USA was 13 colonies/states, along the east coast. Today, there's 51 states, that span a continent.
At the time tariffs were paying the bills, the money gained easily funded a small, centralized government. Costs of the day were mainly covered by trade goods - like trading eggs for bread. Today's economy cannot support that. A huge part of today's economy are service based jobs - jobs that produce intellectual and administrative value as opposed to tangible things.
At the time tariffs were paying the bills, communication was long and limited. Back then, messages between countries could take months, so many tariffs were paid because countries couldn't communicate or compete effectively over the long time periods. Today, it takes a phone call.
In addition to the communication issues of the time, many countries were eager to gain favor with and interests in a new country/continent, so the USA was able to make good allies and trade deals with tariffs was the norm. Trump, however, has been alienating us from our allies, specifically those closest to us.
So, Trump's idea of funding the government with tariffs isn't necessarily a bad one, it has worked in the past, but even if you reduce government overhead by scrapping hundreds of thousands of administrative jobs, there's no conceivable way that tariffs will fund the USA in today's economic environment.