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689 points taubek | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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aimor ◴[] No.43633841[source]
Trying to summarize the summary for myself

From a $100 shoe that sells for $76:

- $24 goes overseas (22 cost, 2 freight)

- $8 goes to the US gov't (3 import, 2 Nike tax, 3 Footlocker tax)

- $33 goes to US employees or businesses (5 Nike marketing, 11 Nike expenses, 17 Footlocker expenses)

- $5 goes to Nike (11% return)

- $6 goes to Footlocker (8% return)

But now with 100% tariffs, it's a $100 shoe that sells for $100 (or a $132 shoe that sells for $100) and:

- $24 goes overseas (22 cost, 2 freight)

- $29 goes to the US gov't (22 import, 3 Nike tax, 4 Footlocker tax)

- $33 goes to US employees or businesses (5 Nike marketing, 11 Nike expenses, 17 Footlocker expenses)

- $7 goes to Nike (11% return, 7.15 exactly)

- $7 goes to Footlocker (8% return, 7.45 exactly)

And if a US shoemaker wanted to undercut the import, a Made in USA shoe that sells for $100:

- $7+ goes to the US gov't (? shoemaker tax, 3 Nike tax, 4 Footlocker tax)

- $79 goes to US employees or businesses (46 to shoemaker, 5 Nike marketing, 11 Nike expenses, 17 Footlocker expenses)

- $7 goes to Nike (11% return, 7.15 exactly)

- $7 goes to Footlocker (8% return, 7.45 exactly)

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milesskorpen ◴[] No.43633989[source]
The piece to add there is that all this money is getting paid by the consumer. The overseas piece doesn't change, same number of US dollars going to the other country. The $24 increase in cost is paid by the US consumer.
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slg ◴[] No.43634095[source]
It's just a sales tax. I don't know why people opposing tariffs never talk about them in this manner because sales taxes are something people innately understand if they have spent any time in the US and "tariffs" clearly aren't as well understood.
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lostlogin ◴[] No.43635353[source]
> sales taxes are something people innately understand if they have spent any time in the US

The way they are done in the US is maddening. You go to the counter and find the price is higher than the tag price by some random amount. It seems to vary wherever you go and depend on what you buy.

A tariff might actually be better.

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1. peterfirefly ◴[] No.43637742[source]
There's actually a really good argument in favour of that -- and in favour of paying income tax not as a direct tax (withheld from wages) but with a delay.

It makes the taxes visible and painful and they will therefore (potentially) not rise as fast or as much.

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2. milesskorpen ◴[] No.43637934[source]
I think that's an argument, but not necessarily a good one

Need to balance transparency in pricing vs. visibility of taxes. I don't think sales taxes are actually all that visible most of the time- it's not like the cashier is telling you "and your taxes are $X." But it does make it much harder to detect if the store is charging you more than list price.

3. snotrockets ◴[] No.43640704[source]
It also puts more tax burden on the less wealthy. Sales tax is regressive; income tax is progressive.

But yes, that’s exactly why the American right makes taxation so cumbersome and horrible: to make people think that taxes are bad, as there’s this assumption you can have civilization without paying for it.

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