Art Of The Deal: Trading The Income Tax For Tariffs.. I & I Editorial Board

[mystery-ak]

Art Of The Deal: Trading The Income Tax For Tariffs
I & I Editorial Board
January 27, 2025


While speaking Saturday in Las Vegas, President Donald Trump suggested, as he had during the 2024 campaign, replacing the federal income tax with tariffs on foreign imports. We don’t need to see an economic analysis to believe this is debate worth having. Of all the good Trump could do as president in the next four years, eliminating the federal income tax would be one of his greatest achievements.

“If the tariffs work out like I think, a thing like that could happen, if you want to know the truth,” he said.

Trump also reminded the fussbudgets and change-fearing conventionalists who will predict that without a federal income tax the country will fall into a decline that until the 16th Amendment was ratified in 1913, there was no federal income tax. That’s right, establishing a federal income tax required a change to the Constitution. The Supreme Court in 1895 struck down an effort in the year before to establish a national income tax. It was, said five justices, unconstitutional.

An income tax at any level is insidious. Internal taxes, Thomas Jefferson said, were an assault on liberty, which “covered our land with officers and opened our doors to their intrusions.”

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https://issuesinsights.com/2025/01/27/art-of-the-deal-trading-the-income-tax-for-tariffs/

[The_Reader_David]

Replacing the income tax with any other tax is a non-starter unless the 16th amendment is repealed, or modified to cap the income tax at a very small percentage of income, certainly no more than 10%, maybe 3%, the original level of income tax.  Otherwise, the moment the left is back in power, they'll impose a confiscatory income tax again without abolishing the other taxes.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Before the advent of the income tax, import duties, taxes, and tariffs were the primary source of funding for the US Government.

[Bigun]

Replacing the income tax with any other tax is a non-starter unless the 16th amendment is repealed, or modified to cap the income tax at a very small percentage of income, certainly no more than 10%, maybe 3%, the original level of income tax.  Otherwise, the moment the left is back in power, they'll impose a confiscatory income tax again without abolishing the other taxes.

BZZZZZ! Wrong! The 16th amendment did not do anything other than remove restrictions on certain kinds of income. Key words being "From whatever source derived" I would love to see it repealed but that argument doesn't hold water in this instance.

[Fishrrman]

"Trading The Income Tax For Tariffs"...

... is simply not going to happen.

Fishrrman's credo:
Reality is what it is. It is not what we believe it to be.

[Bigun]

"Trading The Income Tax For Tariffs"...

... is simply not going to happen.

Fishrrman's credo:
Reality is what it is. It is not what we believe it to be.

Wanna bet?

https://twitter.com/Scott_Bessent/status/1884014609872609669

[The_Reader_David]

BZZZZZ! Wrong! The 16th amendment did not do anything other than remove restrictions on certain kinds of income. Key words being "From whatever source derived" I would love to see it repealed but that argument doesn't hold water in this instance.

Sorry, but Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Company held that an income tax imposed before the 16th Amendment was unconstitutional, as it was a direct tax not apportioned among the states.  The operative clause in the amendment is longer than the one you highlight. Without a repeal of the 16th, the reimposition of a progressive income tax on top of whatever is put in as a replacement is essentially certain if the Left gets back in power.

[Hoodat]

It really doesn't matter where our taxes come from while we continue to print up $2 trillion in new money every year to fund government excess.

[Bigun]

Sorry, but Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Company held that an income tax imposed before the 16th Amendment was unconstitutional, as it was a direct tax not apportioned among the states.  The operative clause in the amendment is longer than the one you highlight. Without a repeal of the 16th, the reimposition of a progressive income tax on top of whatever is put in as a replacement is essentially certain if the Left gets back in power.

Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., 157 U.S. 429 (1895) addresses only income derived from certain sources.

I passionately HATE the income tax and the IRS and would die a happy man if I were to be blessed to live long enough to see their end but getting rid of the 16th alone won't suffice.

[Bigun]

It really doesn't matter where our taxes come from while we continue to print up $2 trillion in new money every year to fund government excess.

I vehemently disagree! There is a reason Marx and Engles loved the income tax!

HOW taxes are collected is hugely important to free men.