[Jim W N]

Tariffs penalize and are a tax on the American consumer and lower our standard of living. Tariffs today are a palliative, not a curative, measure having the appearance of fixing something, but as with most government programs, actually make matters worse.

[central_va]

Tariffs penalize and are a tax on the American consumer and lower our standard of living.

Tariffs increase domestic spending on manufacturing infrastructure and machinery. Manufacturing crates wealth. Importing drains wealth. Tariffs stimulates the economy and raises wages. Tariff are the key to prosperity.

[ConservativeMind]

Would it not be best to have a US government only funded by excise taxes instead of income taxes? Income taxes can exhaust every penny earned, while excise taxes can only exhaust all ability to buy foreign.

An excise-only tax would keep the US government the small, limited, government it was meant to always be. It would also encourage keeping all trade open beyond that, because trade would be required for government to even exist.