Tariff Wagon

Wasted
Sacrificed for the new nirvana
Night time
Send the sun away
--Icicle Works

These pages have frequently observed that tariffs are taxes. Consumers pay these taxes. Ron Paul shares how much the federal government has collected in tariff tax revenue over the past 20 years.

Tariffs are a tax paid by the American consumer.

You -- Your money -- goes into Uncle Sam's pocket.

The American standard of living *must* go down when taxes are increased. Taxes don't create wealth and raise the standard of living.

They're a drain! pic.twitter.com/sCcXRs3ryS

— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) November 13, 2018

Although tariff tax revenues have spiked under the Trump administration, they have been trending higher for the past 20 yrs.

Stated differently, the tariff wagon depart with this administration. It has been rolling for some time. Its speed is merely accelerating under Trump. Recessions have been the only time the brakes have been tapped.

Of course, tariff tax revenues alone don't tell the entire story. At current run rates the federal government will collect about $60 billion in tariff revenue annually. That is only a tiny fraction of the income tax revenue collected by the federal government.

However, what isn't captured is the trading economies that are lost because prices with overseas trading partners are too high. And loss of benefits of specialization as the domestic economy must diversify to become more self-sufficient. And the inflation that follows. And the economic slowdown that flows from that.

You get the picture. Revenue is really just a component of the tariff wagon.