So Trump imposes tariffs on imported steel, and China imposes tariffs on US veggies.
Assuming the importers, or someone along the chain from producer to consumer, pays the tariff, who gets it? The government? If so, does it go into the general fund? And wouldn’t that be an incentive to impose more tariffs to get more government income? A tax by any other name?
Yes the government gets it and yes tariffs are customs taxes. But these tariffs are used passed onto consumers and the consumers object–like they object to other taxes.
My point is that opposition to tariffs rarely mentions that the government will benefit financially, and proponents don’t either. The pros and cons talk only about the effect on the market, producers and sometimes, consumers. As if the money collected goes nowhere and the government has no vested interest.
Assuming that the behaviour of the producers and consumers of the goods covered by the tariffs does not change, then the cost of the tariffs is born by the consumers, and the tariffs go to the government.
However, in real life things are not that simple. Assuming that the U.S. places a tariff on steel made in China, but not on steel made in Canada or domestically, then any or all of these things may happen:
In other words, components of the international and domestic economies are connected, and changing the costs/prices in one will have effects on many other components.
I think the revenue generated from tariffs is so insignificant (in terms of our current federal budget and debt / deficits) that it’s hardly worth mentioning.
In 2011,customs duties and tariffs amounted to $29.5 billion, in the US, or 1.3% if the money that the government brought in. Nothing to sneeze at.
I think it’s worth mentioning in that it is a tax on the goods we purchase.
I know that comparing just about anything to the national debt makes numbers look small, but it makes more sense to compare this $29B to what we pay in taxes, doesn’t it?
Mexico, ironically enough.
I don’t think that’s a helpful answer, Ekers.
Errrr, you don’t get the tariff money if foreign companies stop buying your products because they are too expensive. Some other country gets their money.
Indeed not, but it would be an amusing twist in the story, no?
Besides, the question has earlier been answered - tariffs amount to a tax imposed by government, increasing the cost of imported goods and the higher prices are passed on to the consumer. Theoretically, the importers then go out of business because now-cheaper domestic goods are preferred and the tariff issue becomes moot.
Yes. And just like with other taxes changing tariffs have consequences, sometimes hard to foresee consequences.
I think it is, actually. But maybe you’re just a glass 1.3% full kinda guy! 
It is a tax.
In the UK customs duties were part of the customary revenue of the state i.e. the monarch. Some authorities consider that customs duty was the only consistently levied form of taxation up until the Civil War. Duty did not need parliamentary consent compared to domestic taxes like excise duty, land, poll and property taxes etc. Hence these form of taxes because particularly liked by the monarch when Parliament and the Monarchy were butting heads. Charles I funded his reign using various import duties for eleven years (1629 to 1640) avoiding the necessity to call Parliament. Also as imported goods usually flowed through a central point customs duties were comparatively easy to collect and difficult to avoid at the harbour.
It’s not “a tax by another name”. It is simply a tax, with a specific name differentiating it from other types of tax.
Anyway, how much border-wall will it buy? Yuge, yuger or you won’t believe how yuge?
Until the very early 20th Century, tariffs and excises were very nearly the only form of revenue for the US federal government. (Link is a PDF.)
It was THE tax before income tax became THE tax.
I’m going to go with “you won’t believe how yuge”, because that also covers the Spinal Tap Stonehenge eventuality.