General Discussion

True, a tariff depends on consumers buying product subject to tariffs, and the seller passing the cost along to the buyer, but sure isn't too different than a sales tax. In both cases, someone has to buy something (one could instead put the money in a savings account and watch as we head into a crisis of effective demand - i.e., a depression). And it is also true the cost of the tariff can slash down profit margins to whichever wholesaler or producer buys the product 'at the border'. But in the end a tax is a tax is a tax.