Tariffs are regressive taxes.
Regressive taxes are those where the tax rate decreases as the taxpayer's income increases. In other words, people with lower incomes pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes compared to those with higher incomes.
Consumption taxes are almost invariably regressive taxes. Those on lower incomes consume higher proportions of their income. That's because they save less of their income than do the wealthy. It's hardly rocket science to point this out. Tariffs are consumption taxes. They are regressive. They will make most Americans significantly worse off. They will also fuel inflation.
In that case, what Trump is calling Liberation Day in the USA today is actually all about a massive shift in taxation from those with high incomes to those with lower ones.
This shift will be reinforced by the perpetuation of Trump's first-term tax cuts for wealthy America, which it is now planned should continue, and which might be expanded.
For the record, let's also be clear that US consumers will settle the liability for tariffs. No one else can ultimately settle the bill, although other countries are worried about the knock-on effects as a result of reduced demand for the goods that they have supplied to the USA.
The result is that, like almost everything Trump does, the description applied to today is almost wholly misleading. This event is not about liberation. It is about crushing the well-being of the US consumer, whilst freeing those with significant wealth in the USA from tax bills that they should rightly owe.
If Trump calls that liberation, I do not.
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No one consciously wants to make their life worse.
The people in America have been lied to at scale since Reagan on these issues that has led ultimately to Trump.
They have gathered around Trump in the hope of respite from Reaganism. All they are going to get is much worse.
I find it increasingly tragic to see people’s pain exploited like this.
It’s a bit like the feeling I have when I see a cattle wagon on its way to the slaughterhouse.
Agreed
A very humane response for which you deserve plaudits.
I’m stuck between the same compassion for a group of not so well educated people (the fault of which lies with the foundations Reagan laid) and what I’ve seen and what my American friends point out are gun-tooting, racist, kkk-supporting excuses for humanity.
They aren’t good people. Trump won by attacking immigrants, POC, gay, and trans people. The people that voted for him knowingly voted for a rapist felon. They have no excuse. And they will get what they deserve.
I understand your anger.
In the excellent PBS documentary on the Vietnam war, and ex-South Vietnamese counter- intelligence officer said that you firstly at least had to convince a communist/pro Vietcong supporter was wrong and try to get him to change his mind with reason. Only when you failed to do this, he said did you kill him. Only then.
He said this abhorring the vicious counter-productive violence that was sued by both sides during that awful conflict. He has a point that still stands as far as I can see.
Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” is peak Orwellian economics—branding a tax hike on everyday essentials as a gift of freedom. Tariffs are just stealth taxes on the stuff people actually need, so the poorer you are, the harder you get hit. Meanwhile, millionaires and billionaires kick back, pocket fresh tax breaks, cash in on stock buybacks, and enjoy VIP seats to the grand spectacle of everyone else’s wallets being emptied—laughing all the way to the bank.
It’s like Trump skimmed a manual on helping everyday Americans, got bored by page two, and decided to use it as kindling for another corporate bonfire. The guy isn’t some financial savant—he’s the type of “business genius” who’d torch a house, charge rent for the smoke, then file for bankruptcy out of sheer nostalgia.
But sure, let’s pretend this is about patriotism and not a blatant wealth grab. MAGA: Making Affluence Great Again—where “economic liberation” means those who are not rich pay more, the rich pay less, and the only thing trickling down is the bill.
Agree on tariffs being regressive, but would go further and say that abolishing taxes and quotas is progressive. In other words doing this will reduce inequality. I hope Sir Keir Starmer and his team are reading and in response to Trump raising tariffs decides to freeze or even abolish our own.
“INFLATION DAY!”
True.
And will in the short term lead to a bigger tax take. Which the billionaires will then claim they can pay less tax. How much US inflation will it cause? 15-20%?
Who knows….
Will all these cap-wearing feckwits even blame Trump when they lose their jobs and default on their pick-up truck payments?
Those “cap wearing feckwits” are mothers, fathers daughters, sons, brothers and sisters, many of whom voted for Trump because Hillary Clinton called them “deplorables” and despised them. She then lost the election.
Are you hoping to win their hearts and minds and those of their UK cousins, over to a better way by insulting them? Go for Fa***e, not his supporters.
When will we learn?
This is hilarious when you consider what Trump has said about Latin Americans and how many voted for him. I have zero sympathy for Trump supporters. They lost it long ago.
About one half of Americans don’t vote at all. As about one half of Brits don’t. It wasn’t always like this. Instead of forever chasing the far right vote and becoming far-right in the process (which decreases turnout even further), both Democrats and the centre and left of the centre parties in GB should ask themselves why one half of population don’t vote and what they can do, so these people would feel like they have someone and something to vote for. BTW – Hilary never called them deplorables – but I will. I think it’s deplorable if someone votes for far-right racists.
Their actions are plain to see.
– Racists.
– Fascist-supporting.
– Xenophobes.
– Voting for a rapist and failed businessman.
It’s time to see that whilst the USA is a diverse melting-pot of historical cultures, what Trump’s fan base have come to represent is not in any way desirable.
Time for East & West USA to cecede.
The Independent reports Starmer is ‘offering US tech firms a tax cut ‘to ‘dodge Trump tariffs’.
Tariffs on American goods will raise some prices. But should we give into a one sided deal? Or do as the EU is doing.
We should align with Europe.
Being divided helps Trump.
I agree 100%
I even made favourable reference to Ed Davey.
Always thought Trump would dangle something for Starmer to keep us divided from Europe . Starmer probably doesn’t see joining with Europe as an option – UK economy 40% owned by US etc and intelligence and nuclear weapons owned by them also.
He will try to maintain the UK as a ‘bridge’ – but only mentioning closeness to US – not actually uttering ‘Europe’
He is a fool
Yes, you are right, they are a regressive tax.
So, our “retaliation” needs to targeted. Tariffs on a few emblematic US goods like Bourbon and Harley-Davidsons make sense (and maybe a few other items, too). But the best thing to do is stand firm and redouble our stand against “Big Tech” – on tax and data use.
Agreed
An intelligent response is required
The tariffs will only affect US serfs/peasants. The EU is talking about responding. However, there is a far far better way to put the USM(ango) in its place:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-officials-object-european-push-buy-weapons-locally-2025-04-02/
extract:
Rubio (mango puppet) told the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia that the US wants to continue participating in EU countries’ defense procurements, Rubio said any exclusion of U.S. companies from European tenders would be seen negatively by Washington. One northern European diplomat, said they had also been recently told by U.S. officials that any exclusion from EU weapons procurements would be seen as inappropriate.
ends.
Given the EU & UK have enough home grown weapons systems to address all needs, what exactly is Pres Mango & his assorted puppets going to do? Levy more traiffs on US serfs/peasants? Go for it. Clearly EU shopping lists for weapons is leverage, that’s the pain point for the US & one that the EU (& UK) should use, ruthlessly.
I like that, a lot
Goodbye to our aircraft carriers though
There was a very good examination of EU & UK goes for “all European” weapon systems. It was interesting because it made sure each country got something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFoJGHZEqAk
It is quite long & sometimes a bit technical – but if I was the US, I’d be very very worried.
The chap has done outstanding stuff on Ukraine/Russia.
I thought we didn’t have any aircraft for our aircraft carriers? May well be wrong – really losing track of a lot of stuff these days. Aarrgghhh!
They are US F35s
Interestingly it was announced yesterday we have ordered a third air craft carrier. The new defence money seems to be coming online quickly
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-to-order-third-aircraft-carrier-due-to-russia-threat/
Some other interesting developments as well
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/raf-to-replace-transport-aircraft-with-commercial-airlift/
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/part-of-scotland-to-temporarily-become-part-of-england/
Another target for a cheap drone. Sorry to say it…..
@Dave JJ
Good April Fools, thanks!
This made me chuckle: “the new vessel, tentatively named HMS Prince Andrew…”
Oh dear! So they’re US fighter aircraft. I’m guessing Orange Man will refuse to let us get them serviced and/or repaired if we don’t support him? Let’s hope Starmer won’t succumb to any threats Orange makes. (though have to say I’m not hopeful for that)
Me neither
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/04/02/tariffs-are-regressive-taxation-so-no-wonder-trump-likes-them/comment-page-1/#comment-1014012
@Peter D
“Hillary never called them deplorables”
I beg to differ.
My understanding is that she used the phrase on September 9th 2016 at an LGBT campaign fundraiser in New York City , repeating what she had said on (Israel’s) Channel 2 in an interview on the previous day.
By Dec 4th her campaign manager Robby Mook admitted it could have alienated voters.
Finally Clinton herself in her book, “What happened” (2017), called it a “political gift” for Trump, and admitted it was a factor in her loss.
Do I despise Starmer’s LINO for pandering to the right? Of course – people who WANT Reform UK won’t be won over by that.
But do I think it is a serious electoral (and moral) mistake to abuse and insult electors (rather than challenging their ideas and opinions)?
Yes, I do. That approach goes down like a bucket of cold sick, in my (formerly safe Labour) neighbourhood, and Reform are waiting to exploit those who are alienated by it.
Come and talk to them, I do, because I actually want to stop Reform, not just feel intellectually superior to them while they romp to victory and make our neighbourhood suffer even more than it has under the Coalition, the Tories and LINO.
As I bonifide member of the working class and a ex member of the Labour Party I have whilst campaigning come across a lot of people on the doorstep who you know life has past them by, sometimes through no fault of their own. So while I concur with your approach you also must not give them a ‘free’ pass just because they are working class. There is a time and place for explanation just as there is for calling people out for holding racist or obnoxious opinions.
@Gunny
I hope I have not given anyone a free pass. As for challenging ideas and opinions, I spend hours doing exactly that – for example last Friday morning at a mens group in my neighbourhood we had a long and fruitful discussion about antivax, covid conspiracy theories, badgets and TB (we were on a walk in the woods) and exploitative politicians.
It”s dismissing PEOPLE I object to. It generally means losing an audience. I hope I’ve made the distinction clear.
One thing that is somewhat related, Trump also proposes to eliminate income tax for those who earn less than $150K. You mentioned they are the ones that will settle the liability on tariffs, which will be much higher than any cuts to their taxes.
But let’s say he does. Lower income people, especially the ones that voted for him, may see him as a saviour. His popularity with his base will not go down.
As for reciprocal tariffs, let’s target the goods that are already being boycotted. That way, there will be a lesser impact on us.
That’s nit in any budget plan
Has anyone seen anything on what Trump proposes to do with the money raised? Tax cuts for the wealthy?
Yes
That is what the budget plan says.
This may interest readers of this blog. On Wednesday night a Tory councillor informed a friend of mine that Nigel Farage would be speaking to a group of the faithful at a venue in Kettering on Thursday evening at 6.30. He correctly thought we might want to be there to welcome Farage. Very little time to organise but we did manage to get a few people together and we gathered outside the meeting venue. We witnessed a very well organised and well attended meeting of over 700 Reform supporters. It was a sell out and those without tickets were turned away. We gathered next to the Reform campaign bus and everyone attending had to walk past our group. Exchanges took place between the two groups. Two police officers were there to keep order.
It was nothing like any demonstration/ protest that I had been on before. Some civilised conversations took place but in the main the two groups were miles apart in their opinions. The rank and file Reform supporters were 100% convinced that Farage was the politician who could make their lives better and succeed where the major parties had failed. I don’t blame the majority of Reform voters for this. The fault lies with the weak, ignorant, selfish and morally corrupt leaders of the main parties.
A chilling aspect was the presence of the men ( and one woman) dressed in black with ear phones and dark glasses guarding the entrance to the Conference Centre. I had a feeling of seeing what the future of political gatherings is going to be unless we stand up today and demand change. Kettering is one of the many left behind places. It’s inhabitants do not think they have a future under Labour or Tory. Farage and his mates know this and know hundreds of other towns were the same conditions can be exploited to their advantage. The upcoming local elections will be a wake up call but I have the feeling that we have already overslept.
Thank you, Derek.
I much appreciate the comment.
I share the concerns.
This is deeply troubling. I am hearing of massive support for Reform growing around where I live.
100% agree.
The tragedy is that an awful lot of the “left” who don’t really understand the genuine grievances of the left-behind areas, are expending a lot of energy on issues and actions that alienate our neighbours and drive them even further into the embrace of Reform. What is worse, suicidally worse, is that they go on to openly despise and mock the “stupid” Reform supporters, and cannot seem to see how counterproductive that attitude is, if they actually want to defeat fascism. It also displays a politics that callously dismisses a whole section of the population as not worth bothering about except for ridicule, thus calling into question what sort of society it is they are trying to build in the first place? Because the left-behind neighbourhoods won’t disappear just because Fa***e gets defeated. What hope can my neighbours have of being listened to by politicians and opinion-formers who despise us and think of us as stupid bigots?
Let’s face it, despising the electors didn’t work in the USA.
I believe a huge number of Fa***e’s supporters vote Reform for one reason only, because he “appears” to take them seriously, whereas other parties treat them with contempt, and, having had their chance at governing, have obviously failed. Lets face it, lots of people made a bad political choice in 2019, and voted for Starmer’s Labour, but I don’t despise them for being taken in by his lies – because now many are seeing the light, realising what a dangerous deceitful man he is. I knew that years ago, but every convert is welcome.
Reform can’t be blamed for the current mess, because they’ve never been in government, whereas we can see what 40 years of Tory/Labour politics has done to our neighbourhoods. So why not have some disruption? Not MY view, but it isn’t unreasonable when the status quo is so AWFUL (for the vulnerable).
The way I see it at present, there are only two options for change.
One is mass civil disruption, protests, violence, riots and chaos. The rich won’t suffer, the poor will. I don’t want it, but I fear the hot summer ahead. Its the option Starmer fears too, hence the illiberal legislation and arrests to stifle dissent.
The other option is leverage on the ONLY group of people who have effective constitutional political power at the moment – if we can convince them it is in their interests, or stir their almost anaesthetised consciences – and that is the over 400 MPs who make up the PLP. They can change Starmer’s mind – or get rid of him.
They can insist that Reeves starts spending especially supporting local government and helping with social care, the bins, the schools, the potholes, and taking the pressure of council tax.
They can insist she starts taxing wealth and controlling rent rises.
They can insist on busines-friendly policies that support SME employment, not huge corporations and City financiers.
They can insist on the Green New Deal.
They can insist on popular action on water nationalisation, and train nationalisation.
They can insist on a dramatic change in the rhetoric – and start with the speeches THEY make.
With the global economy in chaos, they can tell their donors to take a long hike.
They can start LISTENING to their constituents instead of lecturing us.
I’m not v hopeful, but people can be amazing. We are the ones who have to convince those MPs.
Deprive Fa***e of his audience, or drive the voters into his arms. I wonder what we will choose?
Trump supporters. Do they pay federal taxes?
In 2022 60.3 million tax returns showed Gross Income of less than $30,000. The average effective tax rate for those taxpayers was 1.5%, even before refundable tax credits were applied.
Source: Pew Research Centre
I wonder how many of these people are Trump supporters?
Does Trump appeal to the poor? I doubt it somehow, but it occurs to me he has to protect his base from the impacts of tariffs somehow. I wonder how he will do that?
Good questions
A note from the US. The political right often highlights that low-income individuals contribute little to tax revenue, while the wealthy bear the brunt of the tax burden. In 2021, the bottom 50% of earners paid just 2.3% of federal taxes, whereas the top 1% and top 10% accounted for 45.8% and 73.7%, respectively. The real strategy involves using tariffs, which function as a (regressive) consumption tax, and reducing spending, such as cuts to Medicaid, to offset tax reductions for the rich. In other words, forcing low-income people to pay a higher share of federal income tax. However, reversing 30 years of free trade policies and restructuring the economy won’t be achieved with just a brief period of hardship. Even if we manage to revitalize U.S. manufacturing within 3-4 years to offset past losses, the damage will already be done and likely irreversible. The best-case scenario there will be no INCREASE to the debt (Not!).
Thanks