tariffs: does America need higher or lower tariffs on imports.

[Iti oj]

Which would increase more than the other?
Also, as prices increase, there is a secondary increase in cost due to sales tawex.
As wages increase, take home pay is reduced by the income tax, the rate of which also increases.
Government would love this, but would workers see equivalent benefit from increased taxation?

Well you and I both agree tax codes need to be reformed.

 

[Iti oj]

Don't forget to vote please

 

[Valjean]

America, till recently, has always had tariffs. Hamilton's tariff system was how the US paid for government. America managed to rise to economic dominance and a high standard of living with tariffs in place. But when 'free market' theory rose to prominence and the US started rolling back its tariffs and protectionist policies, the economy began to stagnate.
When we started joining free trade associations, the industrial base and secure jobs that were the foundation of America's golden age fled overseas -- or South of the border.
We did fine with tariffs for most of our history. Prices for foreign goods were higher, but so were wages and job security, and more people bought American.

Some problems with tariffs.....
- As we impose tariffs, other countries retaliate in kind.

They already do -- with VAT taxes protecting their industries instead of tariffs.

But it would also....
- Perhaps reduce foreign markets for Americastanian goods (due to new tariffs overseas).
Are we better of with the net effect of the advantages & the disadvantages?
This is hard to answer.

Just look at the stagnant wages, unemployment and loss the of industry over the last few decades. I think all the advantage -- and profit -- went to the 1%, leaving the government without revenues for the goods and services we once enjoyed and We the People flailing in the wind, un- or underemployed and without a safety net.

 

[Iti oj]

America, till recently, has always had tariffs. Hamilton's tariff system was how the US paid for government. America managed to rise to economic dominance and a high standard of living with tariffs in place. But when 'free market' theory rose to prominence and the US started rolling back its tariffs and protectionist policies, the economy began to stagnate.
When we started joining free trade associations, the industrial base and secure jobs that were the foundation of America's golden age fled overseas -- or South of the border.
We did fine with tariffs for most of our history. Prices for foreign goods were higher, but so were wages and job security, and more people bought American.
They already do -- with VAT taxes protecting their industries instead of tariffs.
Just look at the stagnant wages, unemployment and loss the of industry over the last few decades. I think all the advantage -- and profit -- went to the 1%, leaving the government without revenues for the goods and services we once enjoyed and We the People flailing in the wind, un- or underemployed and without a safety net.

exactly

 

[Revoltingest]

America, till recently, has always had tariffs. Hamilton's tariff system was how the US paid for government. America managed to rise to economic dominance and a high standard of living with tariffs in place. But when 'free market' theory rose to prominence and the US started rolling back its tariffs and protectionist policies, the economy began to stagnate.
When we started joining free trade associations, the industrial base and secure jobs that were the foundation of America's golden age fled overseas -- or South of the border.
We did fine with tariffs for most of our history. Prices for foreign goods were higher, but so were wages and job security, and more people bought American.
They already do -- with VAT taxes protecting their industries instead of tariffs.
Just look at the stagnant wages, unemployment and loss the of industry over the last few decades. I think all the advantage -- and profit -- went to the 1%, leaving the government without revenues for the goods and services we once enjoyed and We the People flailing in the wind, un- or underemployed and without a safety net.

One must not look at tariffs, & deduce that whatever correlation one likes or dislikes is directly caused by them.
The effect of imposing tariffs will only be a trend superimposed upon all other phenomena.

 

[Penumbra]

I support tariffs.

Trade agreements between countries of similar levels of development to suspend tariffs are fair, because they can both benefit from it fairly equally by moving a layer of taxes between them.

But I think it's important to place tariffs on products that come from developing countries to developed countries. Countries with weak laws against pollution, sweat shops, child workers, and horrible unsafe labor conditions have cost advantages over domestically produced goods. It's particularly bad when a company in a developed country goes out and actively gets their products made overseas to be shipped back to the host country. I see no good reason why we should allow that to occur, so I support a set of simple import tariffs that can be suspended in the case of dealing with other developed countries.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I'm more for extremely high taxes for corporations that ship jobs over seas, hide money over seas, or anything else related to doing business over seas to exploit workers and loopholes.

 

[mindlight]

What do you think is best for the American economy and American worker higher or lower tariffs and why.

@Revoltingest

Protectionism does not work in the long run. The challenge and investment of globalised international markets is enriching the world faster than any planned economy has ever done. That said things like protecting intellectual property, workers basic rights and ensuring that companies play by the rules and pay their taxes where they earn them remains an important contribution the state can make.

 

[Valjean]

Higher.
Tariffs pretty much paid for government for our first century and a half. They protected our industries from foreign competition and protected jobs and wages.

When manufacturers can move to 3rd world countries and produce goods at a quarter the cost, then import them without charge back to the US, American based manufacturers will either go bankrupt or move abroad, creating unemployment plus driving US wages down.

Other countries protect their economies, with tariffs or, more commonly, with VAT taxes. It's only in the US that this free trade/no regulation mania has caught on, and our economy has suffered.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I voted higher as tariffs can make things like iPods and all its competitors would be very expensive, hopefully encouraging domestic production.