A flat tariff is superior to internal taxation

[sratiug]

I call on everyone on RPF to agree to these simple facts. A flat tariff is superior to internal taxation for funding the federal government. A flat tariff is less detrimental to free trade than internal taxes.

 

[rp08orbust]

I don't care whether I'm being taxed for buying something from Texas or China--I'm still being taxed and it hurts the same. All sales taxes are "internal" as far as I'm concerned.

 

[low preference guy]

Government should be funded voluntarily.

But from a production perspective, the most damaging tax is that which prevents the creation of capital. If your country is underdeveloped and it imports most of its capital, then an internal sales tax is better. If it's the opposite and all its imports are end goods, then a tariff is better.

 

[eric_cartman]

I call on everyone on RPF to agree to the simple fact that we only need one thread on tariffs... and that we don't need to start a new thread for people to read our posts when we already had a good discussion going in the other thread.

 

[low preference guy]

I call on everyone on RPF to agree to the simple fact that we only need one thread on tariffs... and that we don't need to start a new thread for people to read our posts when we already had a good discussion going in the other thread.

link?

 

[sratiug]

I don't care whether I'm being taxed for buying something from Texas or China--I'm still being taxed and it hurts the same. All sales taxes are "internal" as far as I'm concerned.

It is not the same. The Chinese are not helping you pay the cost of your government, Texans are.

 

[eric_cartman]

link?

umm.... look one post down

Tariffs are bad
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=235603

 

[AlexMerced]

It is not the same. The Chinese are not helping you pay the cost of your government, Texans are.

If China has a true competitive advantages then we should buy from china, cause then I'll have more money in my pocket for other goods. Plus if you didn't have all the currency manipulation the demand for their goods would appreciate their currency and close the gap free market style.\

Government should be funded voluntarily with a few small fees that go directly to certain services such as a "military fee" which could be $500 a year, and Legislation Fee for "$200" and a Judicial Fee

This way you at least feel like you get something for your money cause your know where those particular dollars are going. Then on this fee collection form the government can propose a list of say 10 projects and people can check of any they'd like to pay into and how much.

This would tell the government truly how some of these programs are valued by society.

Not perfect, but aaaaa lot better.

 

[low preference guy]

It is not the same. The Chinese are not helping you pay the cost of your government, Texans are.

Americans pay for tariffs. When tariffs are implemented, the importers just increase the price of their gods so the tariff is transferred to Americans. I'm not saying that tariffs are worse, but your argument isn't sound.

 

[Pacis]

I don't accept the tariffs or internal taxes dichotomy. Neither are good. I abhor both of them.

 

[disorderlyvision]

all taxation is theft

 

[SevenEyedJeff]

I don't like any taxes, either. However, I will take tariffs as an alternative to the income or payroll tax ANY DAY.

 

[noxagol]

Tariffs allow American companies to rape the consumer instead. HURRAY! American consumers have to pay millions more a year for sugar because of tariffs and quotas.

America use to pay the highest wages, had the cheapest goods, and exported everywhere.

 

[sratiug]

Tariffs allow American companies to rape the consumer instead. HURRAY! American consumers have to pay millions more a year for sugar because of tariffs and quotas.

America use to pay the highest wages, had the cheapest goods, and exported everywhere.

Internal taxes cause Americans to pay millions more a year for everything made in the USA because of corporate income taxes, personal income taxes, social security taxes, payroll taxes, etc. American companies outsource production because of these taxes and fire American workers and move their factories overseas. But wait, there's more...

Not only must Americans pay more for American made products, anyone in the world that wants to buy an American product has to pay more. That is the fundamental difference that causes internal taxes to be far more detrimental than a flat tariff could ever be to our free trade.

 

[noxagol]

Internal taxes cause Americans to pay millions more a year for everything made in the USA because of corporate income taxes, personal income taxes, social security taxes, payroll taxes, etc. American companies outsource production because of these taxes and fire American workers and move their factories overseas. But wait, there's more...

Not only must Americans pay more for American made products, anyone in the world that wants to buy an American product has to pay more. That is the fundamental difference that causes internal taxes to be far more detrimental than a flat tariff could ever be to our free trade.

False Dichotomy. I favor no government, so I favor no taxes. Stop acting like dislike of tariffs is favor towards other taxes. ALL taxes are internal taxes, ALL taxes are theft. I don't think in terms of this country or that country, all are people and taxes hurt everyone, except, of course, the ones collecting them.

 

[jsu718]

False Dichotomy. I favor no government, so I favor no taxes. Stop acting like dislike of tariffs is favor towards other taxes. ALL taxes are internal taxes, ALL taxes are theft. I don't think in terms of this country or that country, all are people and taxes hurt everyone, except, of course, the ones collecting them.

Not a false dichotomy. The way things are you can't just instantly remove all government. You have to shrink it bit by bit. Moving to a better tax is better than doing nothing at all. Opposing incremental change just means that nothing will ever get done to make things better.

 

[noxagol]

Not a false dichotomy. The way things are you can't just instantly remove all government. You have to shrink it bit by bit. Moving to a better tax is better than doing nothing at all. Opposing incremental change just means that nothing will ever get done to make things better.

In order to make change, you have to have a clear goal of where you want that change to go otherwise you will be making changes in the blind. Right now, we depend on imports to provide a lot of the things we use. If we were to switch to protectionist style tariffs to fund everything, we would be in a world of hurt as the average consumer won't even be able to afford the really cheap clothe at walmart or any other store because they shot up ennormously in price.

Not to mention, right now you can't even think about cutting taxes because we have to cut spending some trillion dollars a year before we can even begin to fathom to cut spending.

And yes, it is a false dichotomy. You say the only choices are this or this, when there are actually 4 choices, this, that, none, or both. You also bring out red herrings.

 

[sratiug]

In order to make change, you have to have a clear goal of where you want that change to go otherwise you will be making changes in the blind. Right now, we depend on imports to provide a lot of the things we use. If we were to switch to protectionist style tariffs to fund everything, we would be in a world of hurt as the average consumer won't even be able to afford the really cheap clothe at walmart or any other store because they shot up ennormously in price.

Not to mention, right now you can't even think about cutting taxes because we have to cut spending some trillion dollars a year before we can even begin to fathom to cut spending.

And yes, it is a false dichotomy. You say the only choices are this or this, when there are actually 4 choices, this, that, none, or both. You also bring out red herrings.

That's why a constitutional amendment with a 10 year phaze over from internal taxes to tariffs is the answer. The ten year period gives industry time to adjust, and gives Americans time to cut government spending and revenue overall. By claiming a flat tariff will make imports too expensive you are admitting that the current system is what is destroying American production.

There is nothing protectionist about using a flat tariff to fund the current level of government.

 

[Krugerrand]

Poll tax. If you don't think your vote is worth $x.00, then don't vote.

 

[tmosley]

Poll tax. If you don't think your vote is worth $x.00, then don't vote.

I'd go further, and allow people to vote as many times as they want, provided they pay the tax each time.

Even further beyond that, the poll tax would be the only method o funding the government, to prevent monied interests from coming in and spending money to buy votes to appropriate more money for themselves (from tariffs, for example).

Of course, such a system couldn't really be called a government, but would more closely resemble a civic organization of some sort. Like a masonic temple, or a Lyons club.