"Former President Donald Trump’s domestic policy agenda would amount to a tax increase on the vast majority of American households," HuffPost reports, "according to a new analysis by a D.C. think tank, thanks largely to his proposed tariffs on imported goods." Yes, he's proposing tax cuts, but he's also proposing tariffs, the cost of which are passed onto consumers as increased prices. So: "Taken together, the tax cuts and tariffs would cost households in the middle 20% of the income distribution an average of $1,530 in 2026, the analysis found, while the richest 1% would save $36,320."
Source: Donald Trump Tax Plans Would Increase Taxes On 95% Of Americans, Analysis Finds The Institute On Taxation and Economic Policy found Trump’s tariff proposals would outweigh his tax cuts for all but the very richest households. Arthur Delaney and Dave Jamieson, HuffPost, Oct 7, 2024
Regarding Trump's repeated lie about who pays for tariffs, on July 31, 2019, Fox News host Neil Cavuto said: "I don’t know where to begin here...China isn’t paying these tariffs. You are...It’s passed along to you through American distributors and their counterparts in the United States that buy this stuff from the Chinese and then have to pay these surcharges. Not the Chinese government..."
Even someone from Fox could say that five years ago.
And a year before that, in 2018:
"This is a clear demonstration that the Trump administration does not understand trade economics,” said Bernard Baumohl, managing director and chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group, in a phone interview. “These tariffs when they’ve been imposed in the past have done more harm than good. The problem is that politicians have an ahistorical memory that goes back sometimes to breakfast."
If there were any real intent to collect money from other nations, it would be done by the Commerce Department and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the latter created by the first president, George Washington, in 1789 (then called the US Customs Service). There is no need for Trump to propose the "External Revenue Service," as he did in January 2025.
"Trump has said Musk would lead a commission on how to reduce government spending, and Musk has said he would identify trillions in cuts." Musk says this "necessarily involves some temporary hardship...President Trump is supportive that everyone's taking a haircut here."
Elon Musk Says Trump Will Bring 'Temporary Hardship' For Americans. The statements from Trump's biggest backer are stunningly contrary to the former president's sunnier description of American life under a second Trump presidency. Arthur Delaney & Jonathan Nicholson, HuffPost, Oct 29, 2024.
"Former President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that he’d consider giving billionaire Elon Musk a role slashing the federal government if he returns to the White House next year.
Trump also insisted, oddly, that nobody would even notice."
Donald Trump Claims 'Nobody's Going To Feel It' When Elon Musk Slashes Government. This comes as Musk, a billionaire backer of Trump's presidential bid, says that giant budget cuts would create “temporary hardship” for the country. Arthur Delaney, HuffPost, Oct 30, 2024
“Tariffs is a tax and it will be passed on to consumers,” Mullin, a staunch Trump loyalist, told Kaitlan Collins on CNN Wednesday.
But Mullin defended Trump’s erratic tariff binge as a potential vehicle for better trade arrangements with countries.
Collins was eager to return to his surprising candor.
“What you just said is important: that a tariff is a tax that is passed on to consumers,” she said.
“Of course it is, everybody knows that,” Mullin replied.
“That is something the White House does not acknowledge,” the host shot back.
— Ron Dicker, GOP Senator Admits What Trump And White House Are Denying In Tariff War, HuffPost, Mar 13, 2025
Read more on Medium: Rep. Jamie Raskin’s book Unthinkable
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