Re: The Point?
What is the point here?
The point, apparently, is to bring down America's massive $36 trillion Federal debt.
And slapping nnn% tariff on imports from is the "easiest" way to tax low- and middle income Americans without raising personal income tax.
Trump wants to make a deal with China. Here’s how he’s trying to make that happen
Interesting reading.
* "We want to appear to be going towards free trade but we also love the revenue from tariffs"
* Two different people close to the White House said Trump, not a deputy, is leading the administration’s strategy on China, which has in some cases left people outside the White House without a point person to go to.
* Asked who is leading the White House’s negotiations on China, a third person close to the White House quipped: “A junior staffer named Donald Trump.”
And the most interesting part is this: Beijing has punched back with both a 125 percent retaliatory tariff and a suite of non-tariff import curbs calculated to inflict pain across a swathe of economic sectors. They include bureaucratic obstacles to agricultural and energy imports, a travel advisory aimed at kneecapping Chinese tourist arrivals to the U.S. and halting delivery of Boeing aircraft.
However, Donald is reluctant to tax the rich. For example, Apple Australia in 2024:
Australia's corporate tax rate is 30 per cent.
Apple brought in $9.33 billion in income from its Australian business in the 2021-22 financial year, according to the ATO.
But it was able to reduce that figure to $459 million for its taxable income, meaning it paid just $137.3 million in taxes.
(Source: Apple owes $21b to Ireland in taxes after a sweetheart deal was deemed illegal. Would this happen in Australia?)
AU$137.3 taxes paid for AU$9.33 billion equates to about <01.5% tax rate.
Australia is a very tiny market for FAANG. If Apple was able to book a profit of AU$9.3 billion then the US income would be exponentially higher. How much income taxes did FAANG pay in 2024? How much did the Trump group of companies pay in 2024?