Former Daily Show host Trevor Noah often reminded viewers, “Two things can be true at the same time.” One of his most famous examples concerned the dichotomous responses to George Lloyd’s death in May 2020 at the hands at the hands of Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin. As a Black man who grew up in South Africa during apartheid, Noah he did not consider it an oxymoron to be supportive of Black Lives Matter and opposed to defunding the police. Taking both sides of an issue is possible when we are focused on interpretation of the facts, not the facts themselves.
Which brings me to the topic du jour, Donald Trump’s calling April 2, 2025 “Liberation Day.” There has never been a better example of the difference between opinion and facts. At the heart of Trump’s performative White House celebration is a new round of global tariffs. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (the billionaire who wants us to believe his mother-in-law lives hand to month but would not complain if she did not get her monthly Social Security check) “… promised Americans that grocery prices would start coming down in early April but warned that there would be price increases on foreign goods as a result of the Trump administration’s anticipated reciprocal tariffs.” (Source: NBC News) In contrast, “One model constructed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston suggests that in an extreme scenario, heightened taxes on U.S. imports could result in a 1.4 percentage point to 2.2 percentage point increase to core inflation.” (Source: CNBC)
Proponents say reciprocal tariffs will encourage America consumers to purchase goods and services produced by domestic manufacturers leading to sustained job growth and lower unemployment. Critics suggest tariffs on raw materials and parts needed to produce those goods and services will result in a rash of business closures and/or downsizing leading to higher unemployment. Prior to implementation of the tariffs and analysis of the ensuing data, it is impossible to determine who is right and who is wrong.
Not so with one aspect of the tariff regime which Trump has touted on numerous occasions. According to the non-partisan Tax Foundation:
Last week, former President Trump took his affinity for tariffs much further, floating the possibility of entirely replacing the federal income tax with new tariffs. (June 18, 2024)
The Tax Foundation went on to put this proposal in historical perspective. Using the most recent available date (FY2021) as a benchmark, they report Americans paid $2.2 trillion tax on $15 trillion of individual income. That same year, tariffs on a total of $3.4 trillion in imports generated revenue of $80 billion. Extrapolating these figures to determine the tariffs required to achieve Trump’s policy objective, the Tax Foundation found, “To replace the roughly $2 trillion of revenue raised by the individual income tax with tariffs would require astronomically high tariff rates.” They project fully replacing the individual income tax would require a 69.9 percent tariff on ALL imported goods and services.
A Hyundai Tucson which sells for $38,000 today, according to their model, would now cost $64,562. Which explains why Trump’s proposal makes even less sense. Trump claims the tariffs will encourage Americans to buy domestically produced automobiles. Let’s assume he is correct. In which case, the $3.4 trillion total value of imports would decline significantly, requiring an even higher tariff to reach the tariff/income tax break-even point.
In other words, two things can be true at the same time when it comes to opinions. But not when it comes to facts. Just one more example how the stable genius sitting behind the Resolute Desk turns an oxymoron into something just simply moronic.
For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP