Conservatives Do Not Support Higher Taxes on Trade

[Toro]

Real conservatives do not support higher tariffs, i.e. taxes on trade. Higher taxes on trade destroy wealth and raise prices for everyone. Tariffs are a government intrusion on individual liberty by restricting choice. Free trade is freedom. Taxes on trade reduces freedom.

Here is the Heritage Foundation on free trade. The Heritage Foundation came out in opposition to granting Obama Trade Promotion Authority, but they remain committed to the principles of free and lower taxes on trade.

A solid commitment to advancing trade liberalization is the best approach to ensure that America continues to reap the benefits of international commerce.
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Trade

The CATO Institute agrees

Removing barriers to trade — in both directions — is essential to sustained economic recovery and long-term growth.​

Beyond Exports: A Better Case for Free Trade

As does the American Enterprise Institute

In the modern era, Republicans have espoused free trade — and free trade agreements (FTAs) — as extensions of their domestic goals to foster vigorous market competition and limit government intervention on behalf of favored protectionist interests. To carry forward that tradition, even in the face of the current bitter partisan divide, Republicans in Congress must take the lead in granting President Obama the authority to conclude new FTAs and get an expeditious decision on the agreements from Congress.​

Republicans must step up and lead the fight for free trade

What did Ronald Reagan have to say about free trade?

One of the greatest contributions the US can make to the world is to promote freedom as the key to economic growth. A creative, competitive America is the answer to a changing world, not trade wars that would close doors, create greater barriers, and destroy millions of jobs. We should always remember: Protectionism is destructionism. America's jobs, America's growth, America's future depend on trade--trade that is free, open, and fair.

This year, we have it within our power to take a major step toward a growing global economy and an expanding cycle of prosperity: the historic free trade agreement negotiated between our country and Canada. And I can also tell you that we're determined to expand this concept, south as well as north. Our goal must be a day when the free flow of trade, from the tip of Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic Circle, unites the people of the Western Hemisphere in a bond of mutually beneficial exchange.​

Ronald Reagan on Free Trade

And Margaret Thatcher?

In a system of free trade and free markets poor countries - and poor people - are not poor because others are rich. Indeed, if others became less rich the poor would in all probability become still poorer.​

The Best Quotes

The rising popularity of taxes on trade on the Left is no surprise. Bernie Sanders and others of the Left have long supported higher taxes on trade. But it is a surprise on the Right.

Conservatives want the government to get out of the way. They don't want the government interfering in the economy and making things more difficult for businesses. But that's what tariffs and taxes on trade do. That's why conservatives oppose tariffs.

 

[tyroneweaver]

I'm a conservative, but I think higher tariffs are worth a try.

 

[Toro]

I'm a conservative, but I think higher tariffs are worth a try.

Would you support raising a national sales tax then using the proceeds to subsidize businesses that would otherwise to go bankrupt?

Most conservatives would say no.

However, that's effectively what tariffs do. Tariffs raise the price of goods, like a sales tax. The elevated cost of goods caused by a tariff is a wealth transfer from consumers to businesses that otherwise wouldn't exist. Effectively, it acts like a welfare payment.

In capitalism, businesses that can't survive are supposed to go bankrupt. In capitalism, capital is supposed to flow from weak businesses to better businesses, ie from typewriter companies to spreadsheet software companies. Society is worse off by protecting the typewriter companies. Tariffs protect companies like the typewriter maker.

That's why economists, conservative economists in particular, oppose tariffs and taxes on trade. The greatest conservative economists all oppose tariffs.