Now that the unions own Congress and will be expanding their control and increasing wages the next cry will be to "protect" our workers from foreign competition with tariffs.
There are many types of tariffs: revenue, specific, protective, ad valorem and prohibitive.
They are all the same thing - a hidden tax that is paid by the consumer.
If you wish to pay more for everything from ladies panties, ethanol, and milk to structural steel by all means encourage your Congressman to vote for increased tariffs.
Part of the price of every gallon of gasoline is a tariff.
Ethanol cannot be produced economically so the Congress has given them a subsidy.
That's a handout of taxpayer money for a business that can't make a profit.
Ethanol can be imported from Brazil at much lower prices.
Instead of making the ethanol industry be competitive Congress has imposed a tariff to bring the price of Brazil ethanol up to that of U.
S.
produced ethanol.
Anyone can see this is a hidden tax on every drop of gas put in U.
S.
vehicles.
When a company goes into business and cannot make a profit it deserves to fail.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see this is a political blunder.
When Congress makes a mistake they never want to admit it.
It is not their money; it's yours.
What do most countries do when this type of egregious tariff is imposed upon their goods? Very simple.
They impose a tariff on our goods going into their country.
Politics rears its ugly head and the consumer (that's you and me) pay the bill.
When the new tariff bill is introduced in Congress it will not have the word "tariff" in the title.
A few of the Joe Sixpacks might actually know what that means.
It will have the words "workers' import protection" or some type of subterfuge to hide its true meaning.
Keep in mid it is a tax on everyone.
There is a tariff on imported steel products.
How can steel be produced 12,000 miles from our shores, shipped here and undersell U.
S.
producers? To make it "fair" Congress has put a tariff on it.
There is something wrong here.
Why is the taxpayer giving money to the steel industry to subsidize an inefficient business? Politicians say we have to maintain our own steel industry for national defense.
Tax incentives make more sense.
Many of the parts that make up one of the Big 3 autos are made overseas.
No U.
S.
car is 100% American.
The hidden tariffs add to the cost.
Tariff money goes to the central government.
The new administration will figure many new hidden taxes that prey on the consumer.
They will be like the death of a thousand cuts.
Most people don't care.
Why? Because 50% of them pay no taxes at all.
When these new "hidden" taxes are proposed it will be up to the intelligent voters to write or call their representatives in Washington to tell them a big, fat "NO".