Issue Position: Free Trade

Issue Position

Position: Strongly opposed--it doesn't come "free" to taxpayers

Explanation: Free trade does not come "free." The discontinuation of a particular type of tax means that the money must be raised elsewhere or that government expenditures must be cut. It also means that tax cuts cannot be appropriated to other areas.

By providing free trade, importers get the tax cuts. Offering free trade means that the government will not be able to afford to cut your income taxes. Offering free trade to more countries means our federal deficit will go up as revenues plummet.

A government can raise taxes wherever it pleases. It can raise them on sales, title transfers, income, exports, imports, specific goods, estates, or property (and this is not an all-inclusive list). It can also specify what will be covered and what will be exempted from taxes.

The imposition of taxes will increase some types of activities while decreasing others. Increasing taxes on fuel will make people decrease fuel consumption. Increasing taxes on tobacco will cause people using tobacco products to reduce their usage.

Right now the federal government gets much of its money from income taxes. The effect of increasing income taxes is that people start seeking tax loopholes or complex retirement investments (such as an IRA); this situation ties up many resources which could be put to better use. Taxes in imports, however, reduce the flow of goods across national borders. Although it may seem like a bad thing to do this, it is not; a society benefits by having goods cross its borders as seldom as possible.

Products merely going back and forth across national borders are risks; just consider the emerald ash borer (which entered from Asia). Eurasian milfoil, the zebra mussel, and the Japanese beetle are other examples of pests which have entered the United States due to traffic between countries. Unnecessary trade between countries has always been a risk; the Great Famine in Ireland in the mid-1800s and the Black Death in the Middle Ages were both brought about by international traffic.

Another consideration is that taxes on imports will change the government's enforcement priorities. Right now the government pries into people's personal records and transaction histories when it wants to find uncollected sources of revenue. Taxes on imports will make the government change to a strategy of patrolling the borders better (since enforcement will generate revenue and will not be a mere expense--as it currently is).

If we can supply our own products, we do not need to export. What is the point of a Canadian manufacturer selling an American wholesaler 5 million units of a commodity and an American manufacturer selling a Canadian wholesaler 5 million units of the same commodity? It only adds to transportation costs and increases the risk that something problematic will cross the border.

Why do employers need to cut wages and benefits when they should be increasing due to inflation? Globalization. They need to be more competitive so they can stay in business. Exports are not raising employee wages because the corresponding imports are lowering them.

We cannot trust other countries to enforce their laws, protect their workers, or even merely live up to the agreements they made. Mexico is not adequately enforcing its minimum-wage laws; it certainly is not paying them enough even with its minimum wage laws. China does not care much about the plight of its workers; many other Asian countries have followed suit. Japan may treat its workers acceptably, but it uses almost every trick it can contrive to block American manufacturers from exporting goods to Japan (safety rules, processing delays, differences in patent laws, quotas, etc.).

The American economy does not need imports or exports to sustain it; there are plenty of opportunities here in the United States as long as the cheaters are kept out.

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