Article

2025-01-15 Home Front: Politix

Trump announces new External Revenue Service to collect foreign money

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Skidmark 2025-01-15 00:25|| || Front Page|| [11145 views ] Top

#1 It doesn't collect "foreign money". Tariffs are borne by the US importer who will often pass them on to US consumers.

Of course the expectation is that foreign producers will have to lower their prices in order to stay competitive. That may work sometimes but certainly not always.

In the case of my company it won't. We export a product to the U.S. that has little competition but is in high demand. We won't lower our price (which is fair and well established), so the U.S.consumer will pick up the tab 100%.

Tariffs may work in limited cases when you're facing unfair competition from abroad, often from state actors (or aided by state actors, e.g. China). Blanket tariffs on all foreign goods are never a good idea. Prices will rise and retribution will be much more targeted. Nobody wins.

That said, governments tend to love tariffs just like they love taxes, because they are revenue. That's why the next administration ofdten keeps tariffs in place (Biden did keep many tariffs Trump enacted). But somebody will have to pay the price and often it will be YOU.

Also I have no idea why Trump needs to create a new government agency in order to collect tariffs. What was wrong with the way it was handled up to now?

Posted by European Conservative 2025-01-15 06:04|| 2025-01-15 06:04|| Front Page Top

#2 "The president-elect also threatened that the European Union must purchase more American oil and gas or else be subjected to "TARIFFS all the way!"

That's an absurd statement. "The European Union" imports nothing, importers from EU countries do. And they will import what they need, and price and conditions must be right.

Importers from EU countries imported much more LNG from the U.S. in recent years (to make up for Russian gas). Demand is slowing down now (somewhat) because the production of renewable energy is up and the LNG market seems saturated at the moment. You don't import what you don't need (or others can supply cheaper and/or faster). It doesn't make any sense to threaten a German machinery producer with higher tariffs because a French energy company doesn't import enough U.S. gas.

We do want a market economy, not a socialist planned economy, don't we?

Posted by European Conservative 2025-01-15 06:33|| 2025-01-15 06:33|| Front Page Top

#3
What may actually happen, may surprise all of us.
As this could be another one of Trump's well known playing the Media against itself scenarios.

Posted by NN2N1 2025-01-15 06:45|| 2025-01-15 06:45|| Front Page Top

#4 Well, a new org will allow staffing by loyalists.
Reduced task load at the IRS will also allow staff deprecation and redirection, like the armed enforcement bureau.

Posted by Skidmark 2025-01-15 07:41|| 2025-01-15 07:41|| Front Page Top

#5 Prior to the introduction of the income tax, tariffs were a major portion of the national government's income.

Posted by Procopius2k 2025-01-15 07:44|| 2025-01-15 07:44|| Front Page Top

#6 It seems to me also that this is an opening salvo to get a more serious discussion going. Including in Congress about the need to raise revenue, reduce spending.

And finally, this is more “Trump must be crazy” stuff that I’ve seen suggested elsewhere might be an attempt to keep America’s enemies like Russia, China, and jihadis off balance and waiting to act lest he turn the craziness on them, rather than attacking America at this tempting moment while the presidency sits functionally empty.

Posted by trailing wife 2025-01-15 08:00|| 2025-01-15 08:00|| Front Page Top

#7 A history lesson.
The Income tax was originally designed to tax the rich and NOT the Lower to Middle Classes.

However, congress started seeing "Campaign Donations & Board positions & Family employment" and strangely created a lot of Upper Income loopholes and found ways to screw those of us retired and making even a basic income.

Posted by NN2N1 2025-01-15 08:13|| 2025-01-15 08:13|| Front Page Top

#8 Are tariffs bad for growth?

Posted by European Conservative 2025-01-15 08:44|| 2025-01-15 08:44|| Front Page Top

#9 To me the phrase "External Revenue Service" conjures images like "Sir Francis Drake - queen Elizabeth's external revenue agent".

Posted by Grom the Reflective 2025-01-15 10:20|| 2025-01-15 10:20|| Front Page Top

#10 America has a $76B trade deficit with Germany (2024) in part because the German government protects certain industries by limiting or eliminating imports from the US. I think most Americans would like the trade balance even out.

Posted by The Walking Unvaxed 2025-01-15 10:25|| 2025-01-15 10:25|| Front Page Top

#11 "Sir Francis Drake - queen Elizabeth's external revenue agent".

Who is up for some Letters of Margue and Reprisal? We have not played that in a long time.

Posted by SteveS 2025-01-15 11:08|| 2025-01-15 11:08|| Front Page Top

#12 @The Walking Unvaxed
Examples? Except for some foods (meat) I'm not aware of many limitations and if they exist they wouldn't go anywhere near to affect the trade deficit.

US exports to Germany are mainly energy (natural gas and oil), cars, data processing machines, electrical appliances, services... No limits on these.

Posted by European Conservative 2025-01-15 11:39|| 2025-01-15 11:39|| Front Page Top

#13 To be considered is the importation of goods originating in sanctioned nations which pass through one or more partner nations in transit and have counterfeit COO's.

Posted by jefe101 2025-01-15 11:45|| 2025-01-15 11:45|| Front Page Top

#14 It should be said that Economic barriers between the EU and the United States are relatively low. TTIP would have eliminated almost all of them but Trump stopped negotiations in 2018.

Posted by European Conservative 2025-01-15 11:50|| 2025-01-15 11:50|| Front Page Top

#15 Maybe tax outflows from illegals to the home countries. Twist the pig's ear, and listen to him squeal.

Posted by Regular joe 2025-01-15 12:45|| 2025-01-15 12:45|| Front Page Top

#16 Used to be our IRS dollars went into a dedicated account (not the general fund). Congresscritters saw that as too inviting and initiated an action that dumped IRS dollard into the general fund.....where they could get their hands on it.

Perhaps Trump's creation of an "External Revenue Service" is an attempt to keep those dollars away from the congessional thieves ?

Posted by Besoeker 2025-01-15 12:46|| 2025-01-15 12:46|| Front Page Top

#17 Who is up for some Letters of Margue and Reprisal? We have not played that in a long time.

Pirates of the Gulf of Aden? Absolutely.

'you can't search us, its against law'
-snap unrolls the Letter of Marque-
Look at me! Look at me! I'm the pirate now!

Posted by swksvolFF 2025-01-15 12:57|| 2025-01-15 12:57|| Front Page Top

#18 America was founded on tariffs. Tariffs were good enough for George Washington and the Founders. Our first two hundred years, that's all America knew. This idea that we should be tax serfs all our lives is sickening. Taxation is theft. It's nice of Trump in trying to move us away from that taxation scheme and back to tariffs.

Posted by mossomo 2025-01-15 13:00|| 2025-01-15 13:00|| Front Page Top

#19 Somewhere I heard that one of the reasons we have the income tax is because of Prohibition. The people who wanted to ban liquor realized that much of the income of the federal government came from excise taxes on liquor. They realized that if liquor was outlawed, the government would lose a significant source of revenue. So they pushed for the income tax, and then worked to ban liquor.

Posted by Rambler 2025-01-15 13:31|| 2025-01-15 13:31|| Front Page Top

#20 So they pushed for the income tax, and then worked to ban liquor.

Both bad ideas.

Posted by Skidmark 2025-01-15 14:49|| 2025-01-15 14:49|| Front Page Top

#21 Yes it's a tax that gets passed on to consumers of imports, directly or indirectly through manufacturing processes. Not much different than existing taxes that hit everything in any contemporary consumer products. From the farmer's bushel to the wildcater's oil head, there's a tax in every hand it passes through.

Posted by Procopius2k 2025-01-15 16:45|| 2025-01-15 16:45|| Front Page Top

#22 Please read this assessment

Posted by European Conservative 2025-01-15 17:11|| 2025-01-15 17:11|| Front Page Top

#23 Interesting, European Conservative. Thank you.

Posted by trailing wife 2025-01-15 18:52|| 2025-01-15 18:52|| Front Page Top

#24 I'm interested in the hyperbole and projected damage due to Trump's hyperbolic threats. Seems like someone's ricebowl's threatened.

Let's see what happens after real negotiations happen. Until then, cry me a river

Posted by Frank G 2025-01-15 18:55|| 2025-01-15 18:55|| Front Page Top

#25 We should tax foreign nations for permitting them to exist:p

Posted by Silentbrick 2025-01-15 19:21|| 2025-01-15 19:21|| Front Page Top

#26 Fooey. We want all to thrive so we can rise together.

Posted by trailing wife 2025-01-15 21:25|| 2025-01-15 21:25|| Front Page Top

23:26 The Walking Unvaxed
21:53 AlmostAnonymous5839
21:46 Lord Garth
21:31 Thusolet Phavise4379
21:25 trailing wife
20:24 swksvolFF
20:06 swksvolFF
19:41 NoMoreBS
19:21 Silentbrick
19:20 NoMoreBS
19:04 trailing wife
18:55 Frank G
18:54 swksvolFF
18:52 trailing wife
18:27 Frank G
18:26 Frank G
18:02 NN2N1
17:53 Super Hose
17:47 Super Hose
17:45 Bobby
17:42 Super Hose
17:40 Super Hose
17:38 Super Hose
17:23 Super Hose