Republicans have often lauded themselves as the party of lower taxes, after all George H. W. Bush promised “no new taxes” and look where that ended up. In all seriousness, there has always been this idea that Republicans will lower taxes for Americans. Of course, they are mainly out to lower taxes for the wealthy one percent, but that is another issue and besides the point. The point is in this election the party which has most explicitly called for raising taxes on ordinary Americans is Donald Trump and the Republicans.

Many voters will overlook tariff policy because it is boring and seemingly won’t affect the average American because almost nobody can figure out what the hell it is. To put it simply, a  tariff is a tax on imported goods. Trump has proposed a universal tariff of ten percent on all imported goods, though recently he has talked about making them as high as 20 percent, not to mention a 60 percent tariff on all goods from China. His reasoning is that this will dissuade companies and Americans from buying products from China and elsewhere, which would  incentivize them to buy American made products. This will, of course, hurt the American consumer, but according to Trump the payoff is worth it because it would reduce the dreaded “trade deficit” and cause a new age of American manufacturing. While American manufacturing is something the government should be supportive of, this goal could easily be achieved through something like state subsidies, something that does not cost the American consumer. 

The actual statistics of the plan paint a grim picture on the impact for American families. It was estimated by economist Dr. Paul Krugman that such a massive spike in tariffs would cause the cost of living to go up an average of four percent, although poorer Americans would be hit the hardest with the bottom ⅕ of earners having their cost of living increase by almost six percent and the top one percent wealthiest earners would only have their cost of living go up 1.4 percent. Trump also is more likely to initiate these plans than other aspects of his draconian platform as he has the direct power to do so given over the past century congress has continually passed legislation to delegate tariff powers to the President. With no barriers in place, Trump could easily enact this plan relatively early in his term. 

Regardless of the mundaneness that is tariff policy, American voters should take a closer look at this issue as it may soon have a major impact on your finances.