Just One More Tax
Dear Mr. President:
I know how proud you are of the tax cut law passed through Congress. It was one of the big events in your first years as President, and one of the only major pieces of legislation you were able to achieve. That tax cut really didn’t impact many people, unless you were making millions of dollars. The wealthy and the corporations did great – the rest of us pretty much broke even.
But now you seem bent on raising our costs again and again. You are engaging in a trade war with China, and Canada, and today you tacked on Mexico. I know you think that the tariffs you are applying to goods from these countries cost “them” money, but it doesn’t seem to work that way. You see, while the tax may be collected at the “border,” it’s really not the manufacturers that are paying for the increase.
Chinese, Canadian, and Mexican importers, many of them American companies, aren’t “eating” the cost of your tariffs. They are doing what you would probably do as a businessman as well; they are pushing the costs onto the consumers.
So your tax on Chinese goods, and now Mexican imports; isn’t really a tax on those countries – it’s a tax on us.
I know, you want us to “BUY AMERICAN.” I think that’s a good idea too, supporting American workers, and purchasing goods that are made here in America. But you see, unless I go to the grocery store and buy fresh food (and even then I have to check) there really isn’t that much made here in America with American parts anymore.
I’m writing this on a computer, made by a company in Cupertino, California. But it was manufactured in China (I remember watching its progress on my online order.) I bought it eight years ago, but to upgrade to a new one, I will have to pay your tax. It’s the same with my phone, also an Apple product. Where could I find an “American Made” computer?
And I was looking to buy a “Made in America” washing machine. I grew up in Dayton, Ohio; just up the road from the Frigidaire plant, so I thought that would be a good one. But Frigidaire is now owned by a Swedish company, Electrolux, and I don’t know where their products are made. So I went for a Whirlpool; they must be made in America.
Well, some are, and some aren’t and some are made in America with parts from other places. To get a “Made in America” washer, I needed to buy a “Bosch;” a German company that has washer factories in South Carolina and Tennessee. Now will they get a tariff on them? They are German, but their stuff is made here.
So you see, Mr. President, it isn’t just about buying American. That “shipped sailed” a long time ago, along with Frigidaire plant in Dayton. We are in a world market, where my shoes come from Vietnam, my computer China, and parts for my GMC Yukon from Canada (though it was assembled in Janesville, Wisconsin; near Paul Ryan’s house, I guess that plant closed a few years ago.) I know you want to “Make America Great Again,” but the world you are trying to go back to doesn’t exist anymore.
Taxing me, and the rest of the people here in the United States, to punish other countries just doesn’t seem fair. And it particularly doesn’t seem fair when the tax cut you are so proud of makes rich companies (like Apple and GMC) richer, and doesn’t encourage them to stay in the USA at all (check out the GM Lordstown plant, closing down.) It seems like they, and the very rich, get all the benefits, and we “regular” folks, get to pay more taxes.
I know you’ve got a lot on your plate. But I’m getting less on my plate, less because I’m paying more for the everyday goods I need to have. So it would be nice, if you could figure out a way to punish those other countries, and encourage manufacturing back here in the United States, without punishing me and the rest of the “regular” folks.
Thanks – Marty Dahlman
