Trade tariffs are a tax on consumers. They are disruptive, destabilizing and will spike INFLATION!
1. Consumers ultimately pay the tariffs, NOT other governments or nations.
2. Consider the Trump tariffs as a “national sales tax”. When you pay a higher price for a product, that money eventually goes into the pockets of our federal government.
3. Despite daily statements by Trump and his administration, other nations are NOT “ripping us off”. They are not taking advantage of us. Americans choose to buy an international product because of its low price. Both seller and buyer benefit. No one is ripped off! Trump is either ignorant of the issue or just lying to you again.
4. Trump/Republican Party have already established a process of collecting the revenue from tariffs. They created “ERS” which is similar to IRS but only collects from tariff taxes. ERS stands for “External Revenue Service”!
5. The Trump Tariff Tax is the worst kind of tax for the working class. It’s a regressive/unfair tax on the working class. The rich pay a very small portion of their income on such a tax while the working class pay a much higher percentage.
6. Republicans are proposing a HUGE $4.6 Trillion tax cut for the rich, yet the working class must pay a tariff tax. That is NOT fair or moral. Cuts in Federal programs and public service workers that benefit the working class will fund the tax cuts for the rich!
7. Republicans claim the trade tariffs will create wealth and riches and high paying manufacturing jobs. Again, mostly lies and wild exaggeration. Advanced economies throughout the world are concentrating on jobs of the future which are high tech jobs that pay very high wages and benefits. A greater share of the economy is going towards purchasing services, not manufactured products.
8. Trump wants to portray Americans as the victims of international trade! That is another LIE. How can we be victims when for decades, we are the richest and most successful nation on planet earth. Right now, we have full employment (7.3 million unfilled jobs), RECORD profits, record stock prices and record stock buybacks
9. Despite America being the richest nation on earth, the working class continues to struggle to survive with higher prices and stagnate wages. That is NOT the fault of international commerce. It is the fault of corporate America which continues to raise prices and pay substandard wages/benefit packages. Direct your anger and angst at them, not other nations or immigrants or our government. Excessive GREED is the problem, a domestic problem.
The bottom line. Republican Trade Tariff taxes are extremely disruptive to domestic and international financial markets, freezes corporate decision making on capital expenditures, harms our relationship with our allies and most importantly, it is extremely harmful to the working-class in America.