Sean Casten
Until I see their work, I’m dubious. But would note that if you believe that tariffs are a revenue raiser then BY DEFINITION they are not encouraging people to buy American and dodge the tariffs. It’s purely inflationary on their logic. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/03/30/trump-tariffs-6-trillion-navarro/
Trump aide says tariffs will raise $6 trillion as White House readies plan

Peter Navarro’s remarks suggest Trump is preparing dramatic new tariff measures for Wednesday, which the president has referred to as “Liberation Day.”

The Washington Post
Mar 31, 2025 at 12:40pmMastodon for iOS
Show threadALMar 31, 2025

@SeanCasten
logic is not their strong point and they are hoping that nobody will notice.

keep it simple, #Tariff are a #tax on the people of US . We should be calling it the "republican tariff tax" #RTT.

It's like the income tax only its on what you buy not what you earn. Not any different than a national sales tax.

It is also a #regressiveTax, what you pay, as a percentage of what you earn, is higher on #poorPeople

It also allows other corps to raise the price of their goods.

Show threadDavid Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)Mar 31, 2025

@SeanCasten

The specific tariffs are not thought through and so will not achieve these goals, but tariffs on tax-dodging companies can have this effect by giving people a choice:

  • Buy from a company that routes all of its money through a tax haven with a large tariff.
  • Buy from an on-shore company that employs people who pay income and sales taxes and which pays corporation / payroll taxes.

Initially the first option is the only one available but it encourages the second to exist. When the second exists, the extra tax revenue from growing the local economy can equal or exceed the revenue from tariffs.

This requires tariffs to be very carefully designed, along with ensuring that the infrastructure exists to enable the local companies to exist. This also requires a stable and predictable tax regime. No one is going to invest in a factory that's profitable only because of a tariff unless they're certain that the tariff will not go away for many years. Trump is the opposite of this kind of guarantee.

Show threadEhay2kMar 31, 2025

@SeanCasten What really bothers me is nobody has called out #Trump and his ignorance of how #tariffs actually work.

He still thinks that the exporting country pays the tariff. But it's the US importer who looks the tariff up on a tariff sheet & pays it. All of these "revenue raising" tariffs get 100% of their revenue from US entities. No foreign country pays a dime. And then the consumer pays whatever percentage of the tariff is passed along to them.

Ask him WHO PAYS? Then correct him.