Editorial: All the king’s taxes
Credit: Getty Images.
For the past eight months, President Donald J. Trump has been brazenly usurping Congress’ power to impose tariffs on imported goods — and thus claiming the power to levy taxes on a nation that was founded, in part, on the principle, “No taxation without representation.”
It has been understood since even before the start of our republic: Tariffs are taxes, and it’s the job of an elected legislature to impose them.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
Don’t take it from us. Take it from founding father Alexander Hamilton, who in Federalist Paper No. 33 argued, “What is the power of laying and collecting taxes, but a LEGISLATIVE POWER, or a power of MAKING LAWS, to lay and collect taxes? What are the proper means of executing such a power, but NECESSARY and PROPER laws?” (Yes, Mr. Hamilton was wont to use shouty caps on occasion.)
In Federalist No. 35, he noted a few more things about tariffs that remain relevant today: “There are persons who imagine that they can never be carried to too great a length; since the higher they are, the more it is alleged they will tend to discourage an extravagant consumption, to produce a favorable balance of trade, and to promote domestic manufactures. But all extremes are pernicious in various........
© Times Union
