The Wall Street Journal reports on our latest tariff haul:
The U.S. is now on a pace to generate $72 billion in tariffs annually, and could well hit the $100 billion mark Mr. Trump has touted if new 10% tariffs on $300 billion in untaxed imports take effect on Sept. 1, as threatened….Although the U.S. had relatively low tariffs before the Trump administration’s latest actions, it still collected about $30 billion annually in pre-existing tariffs assessed against imports from China, Europe, Japan and other countries.
That’s $70 billion in new tariffs. The US has about 130 million households. So this comes to about $500 for every household in America.
Normally Republicans would be up in arms about higher taxes, but tariffs are a regressive tax so it’s OK. Anything that hits the rich more lightly than the poor is always worth a sympathetic look. And if it’s an invisible tax that screws the poor without them even knowing it? Now that’s a tax a Republican can love.
