Posted on 08/04/2003 10:05:24 AM PDT by Willie Green
Not according to the Founding Fathers. They believed it was the device of first resort, both for raising the monies needed to run government, and to make sure we could produce those elements and items needed for the Nation's success.
You're correct about the attitudes of the Founders. They were indeed big on tariffs. They also didn't have the stifling array of taxation we have today. Or the level of industry and infrastructure we've already created.
If we drop all other forms of taxes and put tariffs at the levels found then, then swell.
But I think we both know that's unlikely. Tariffs have been known to be very bad for all concerned - do you remember Smoot-Hawley ? Government manipulation of markets (tariffs, subsidies, taxes) is almost always bad for the consumer.
We certainly don't have "free trade" now. I can vividly recall when they passed NAFTA wondering why it took so many hundred pages to describe "no tariffs, no restrictions".
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