Without going thru Congress, Trump continues to misuse his power of more burdening Taxes upon American Citizens. This illegal activity must end. Your pocketbook is going to be defunct of 20-50% of your hard earned monies by way of more Tariffs. And he wants more.
Who Pays Tariffs?
Economists generally agree that tariffs are paid by domestic importers, not by foreign governments. When the U.S. government imposes a tariff on a product, it’s the American company importing that product that pays the tax to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This money then goes into the U.S. Treasury.
The importer then has a few choices for how to handle this new cost:
- Pass the cost on to consumers: They can raise the price of the imported goods, making them more expensive for American consumers.
- Absorb the cost: They can reduce their profit margins to keep prices stable.
- Negotiate with the foreign supplier: They might be able to get the foreign exporter to lower their price to help absorb some of the tariff.
In practice, the burden is often shared, but studies have shown that American businesses and consumers bear the majority of the cost. The money collected in tariffs, while paid by American importers, is a revenue stream for the U.S. government.
Tariffs as a Form of Taxation
From a constitutional perspective, tariffs are indeed a form of tax. The U.S. Constitution, in Article I, Section 8, gives Congress the power “to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.” Tariffs are a type of duty. The phrase “taxation without representation” stems from the American Revolution, where colonists were taxed by the British Parliament without having elected representatives in that body. In the U.S., the power to tax is granted to Congress, the body of elected representatives.
However, a key point of debate is whether a president can impose tariffs without direct congressional approval. Historically, Congress has passed laws that give the president some authority to levy tariffs under specific circumstances, such as in national emergencies or in response to a foreign country’s unfair trade practices. Critics argue that when a president uses this authority to impose broad tariffs, it effectively functions as a tax on American consumers without the full legislative process, thereby undermining the principle of “taxation without representation.”
The billions of dollars collected from tariffs do go into the U.S. Treasury, which is where government revenue is held. So, when political figures “brag” about collecting billions in tariffs, they are referring to the revenue that has been generated for the federal government. The core of the debate, as you’ve highlighted, is whether this revenue comes from foreign countries as claimed, or is ultimately funded by American businesses and consumers.