“Tariffs tariffs, I love the word tariffs,” former president Trump said at a recent economic forum in Chicago. The moderator questioned the impact of the 14 million jobs that rely upon trade, but Trump stated his belief that factories and jobs would come back to the U.S. when he imposes tariffs.

As recent history has shown us, the problem with tariffs is that when we impose tariffs on other countries goods, they turn around and impose tariffs on our goods. Farmers know that China, one of the largest consumers of grain in the world has for periods, stopped buying from the U.S., in large part because of tariffs that we’ve already imposed on their goods.

So tariffs slow world trade or at least slow it for the countries that have tariffs. The other problem with tariffs is that it’s a duty that is placed upon incoming goods. The country that produces the items doesn’t pay the duty, we as consumers do, so essentially it’s a tax upon the American people.

The idea behind tariffs is a good one. We should be encouraging more factories in the U.S. We need to be producing more of what we and others in the world consume. A more reasonable way of accomplishing this would be through taxation policy. I would propose that taxes on manufactured goods should be taxed a lower rate. Any American business that creates something tangible should be given a tax break.

There are several reasons why this makes economic sense. First, it is well understood that for every manufacturing job that exists in a community, several more service jobs are created to help support the business and the people that work in that business. This includes trades — electricians, plumbers, carpenters are all needed well after the construction of facilities has been done.

Second, money that is spent turning steel into bed frames and shopping carts requires investment by companies in tools and equipment that also spurs economic growth. Third, for modern factories to be competitive, the jobs increasingly involve computerized systems. So the people that do this work require a higher skill level and in turn, they receive better pay and benefits than service jobs.

How would these tax breaks be paid for? I would propose that taxes be raised on consumer goods except the basic necessities like food. Americans consume a lot of things, many of which we don’t need. By increasing the cost of consumer goods, it will discourage conspicuous consumption and encourage development and in turn strengthen our economy.

To ease the burden upon consumers, increasing taxes upon consumer goods and lowering them on manufacturers should be done in a gradual manner over an extended period of time. This would give business planners the opportunity to decide to build a new plant in the U.S. vs. overseas because the profitability would increase. An industrial plan of this kind would be better for our economy making it more resilient and at the same time, providing better paying jobs for many middle class Americans.

<strong>Rolfe Jaremus</strong>

Watseka