Headline on loss of tariff revenue is misleading | Letter

“White House says it’s losing billions in tariff revenue” was the lead article by Josh Boak, of the Associated Press, published in the Aug. 14 Business section of the Portland Press Herald.

The article says that China is sending goods to other countries for repackaging to avoid  U.S. tariffs. What the article does not say is that American businesses pay the tariffs as a federal tax on goods purchased from tariffed countries.

Any lost federal revenue is the result of American companies purchasing foreign goods from countries not tariffed. Money saved by American companies doing so is therefore a loss of revenue to the federal treasury. This headline should more accurately say “American business saving billions,” making it clear that any effort to change the import rules to close the repackaging loophole and increase tariff revenue is a move to raise taxes on American business and potentially increase inflation — but this would not support blaming China for our current economic woes.

Tom Foley
Cumberland Foreside

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Tagged: letter to the editor