It's Taxation Without Representation

 Financial FAQs

“Oh, and as for all these tariffs: Whatever you think of them (and I am not a blanket opponent), they are taxes. They are sales taxes. Where in my copy of the United States Constitution does it say that the president has the power unilaterally to impose whatever sales taxes he wants, on whatever products he wants, at whatever moment? I must have skipped school the day they taught that in civics.” Bret Arends, MarketWatch

Thoughtco.com

I quoted MarketWatch columnist Brett Arends because it was a cause of our Revolutionary War for those that remember the Boston Tea Party. King George III tried to tax American colonists and it didn’t work. Why does ‘King’ Trump believe it will work when he promised he would bring down inflation on “Day 1?”

We are already seeing the result in almost all prices. Walmart and Target have already announced that they will raise some prices because they can no longer absorb the increased cost of their imported goods from the tariffs.

It’s Trump’s attempt to bring back President McKinley’s Gilded Age of robber barons and rampant corruption that prevailed in 1900, until McKinley was assassinated and Vice President Teddy Roosevelt succeeded him and initiated the modern Progressive era of reform.

Britannica has more to say about its history.

“The great burst of industrial activity and corporate growth that characterized the Gilded Age was presided over by a collection of colorful and energetic entrepreneurs who became known alternatively as “captains of industry” and “robber barons.” They grew rich through the monopolies they created in the steel, petroleum, and transportation industries. Among the best known of them were John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Leland Stanford, and J.P. Morgan”.

The Foreign Trade Court that has jurisdiction on such matters has ruled Trump’s tariffs without congressional approval are illegal. Yet gave Trump the opportunity to continue the tariffs while it was being appealed.

And though Trump agreed to repay the tariff taxes he has already collected if he loses the case on appeal, he continues to levy the tariffs.  Why? They already amount to more than $130 billion the Treasury must repay that it has already collected.

Because he knows our federal debt is unsustainable, and so he must find some way to pay for the tax cuts in his big beautiful tax cut bill that are projected to add $5 trillion to the federal debt.

On May 16, Moody’s Ratings downgraded the U.S. credit rating, citing an “inability of the nation to address large and growing deficits.” This downgrade means that for the first time ever, all three major credit ratings agencies have downgraded U.S. credit below their top AAA rating.

Trump is therefore begging an appeals court to allow the tariffs. It could lead to a “GREAT DEPRESSION” Trump said on social media, with Americans “forced from their homes” that will threaten social security and Medicare.

But what if the higher tariffs lead to stagflation, the combination of slow growth and inflation that caused so much grief in the 1970s? Economists are saying it’s a risk. Higher prices are already affecting consumers that power 70 percent of economic activity and the retailers.

So what do we need that can stop Trump’s highway robbers from not only milking the American people of their money and social benefits, but reversing the environmental and public health protection that protected Americans until Trump’s big beautiful tax cut bill and DOGE firings eviscerated the federal government?

Do we need another revolution?

Harlan Green © 2025

Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen