Recent analysis from Erica York and Alex Durante of the Tax Foundation: The Economic Impact of the Trump Trade War. With a graphic they invite me to embed:
And a few of their bullet points are, to be honest, kind of infuriating:
- The Trump tariffs amount to an average tax increase per US household of $1,100 in 2025 and $1,400 in 2026.
- The Trump tariffs are the largest US tax increase as a percent of GDP (0.47 percent for 2025) since 1993.
- The US Supreme Court will soon decide whether the president’s emergency powers under IEEPA include the power to impose tariffs.
- Historical evidence and recent studies show that tariffs are taxes that raise prices and reduce available quantities of goods and services for US businesses and consumers, resulting in lower income, reduced employment, and lower economic output.
A citation on that first point above soberly informs us: "A tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities." So: a huge tax increase, unpassed by Congress, the way taxes are supposed to work. Under, y'know, the Constitution.
This is an example of what I meant in yesterday's post, about Our Side no longer believing in the Constitutional order. And, unfortunately, not the only example.
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I'm currently reading The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad. (Amazon link at your right.) And happened on this bit of advice:
Trump’s detractors should perhaps be spending more effort engaging their central route of persuasion by evaluating his policy positions in a dispassionate and detached manner.
Fine advice. Difficult for me to follow when I consider the damage he's doing to the Constitution. Sorry, Gad.
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