Tom Slade
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By Tom Slade | Sun City West
Robert Robb makes some good points in his recent opinion concerning the effects of tariffs. However, I believe his basic premise that these tariffs are “protectionist,” thereby amounting to unwarranted punishment to other countries, is not the case.
In peacetime during America’s early decades, most of the federal government’s revenue came from import taxes called tariffs. The Tariff Act of 1789 helped generate revenue to pay off war debts and to encourage and protect manufacturers in the northern states. Congress also passed major tariff bills in 1816, 1824, 1828 and 1832.
Prior to the imposition of personal income tax early in the 20th century, the federal government funded itself primarily through excise taxes, tariffs, customs duties and public land sales.
Fast forward to the 21st century and tariffs still exist. The primary reason for tariffs on imports is to protect American jobs and industries from unfair economic tactics by foreign entities. A number of foreign companies “dump” cheaper goods into the USA because our market is the largest in the world.
The goods produced in these countries are subsidized by their governments to boost employment and GDP, which is economically unjust. The fastest and fairest way to combat these unfair practices is to levy tariffs on foreign goods to ensure that American industries can compete fairly in world markets.
There have been announcements from various countries of trillions of dollars of new manufacturing and production being brought into our country to avoid the tariffs. This will accomplish: 1. Less reliance on hostile foreign countries for goods critical to our national security. 2. Significant increase in GDP and tax revenue, thus reducing the burden of the bloated federal deficit. 3. Economic opportunity that permits future generations to realize the American dream of home, family and economic security. It is difficult to fulfill this promise with hamburger restaurants and jobs that rely on distribution of goods alone.
I believe Mr. Robb and I would both agree that free market trading as envisioned by Adam Smith in “On the Wealth of Nations” is the best and fairest solution overall. Politics throughout the world will probably never let this happen.
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