Americans Will Now Pay A 10% Tax On Virtually Everything, Forever

Regardless of the outcome of Trump’s tariff wars

Quick note: based on the responses I’ve been getting, I’m not saying this is the same as a Value Added Tax; I’m saying the long-term impact may be substantially similar. And it’s not going away.

Yes, Trump’s massive tariffs are stupid, and nobody trusts him to stick to anything he says when it comes to trade because he’s always going to feel everything is “unfair”.

But here’s what many people out there are missing: at its core, the very baseline Trump tariff is 10%. And that’s not going away. Ever.

Many countries have a “consumption tax” or “Value Added Tax”. It ranges anywhere from 3%-27% (in Hungary!) depending on the country. The US doesn’t, or hasn’t. That’s not for lack of trying.

The lack of such a tax is due in large part to then President Reagan’s fierce opposition, the last time it was seriously brought up. Why was Reagan so against it? Because it’s invisible: it’s “baked in” to the price of a product. And Reagan believed — with good reason — that since Congress can’t help themselves but to spend money, if taxpayers weren’t visibly seeing their taxes raised more and more and more, Congress would just raise these invisible taxes more and more…