The Power to Tax
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RE: Follow-up On The New Round of Tariffs
In last week’s posting here, I offered my opinion that the two international trade statutes President Trump relied upon last month to impose new tariffs on imported goods were unconstitutional. Upon reflection, I have concluded that more explanation, from me, is necessary. The two statutes, 19 U.S.C. § 2411(b)&(c) and 19 U.S.C. §1338, plainly authorize… Continue reading
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TRUMP’S ILLEGAL TARIFFS, PART 3
During the last six months of 1971, President Richard Nixon imposed roughly a ten percent surcharge, subject to an absolute maximum tax, all payable to the federal government, upon most goods imported into the United States from foreign countries. In 1975, the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals upheld the legality of that… Continue reading
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RE: THE POWER TO TAX
Federal Communications Commission v. Consumers’ Research, Sup. Ct. Docket No. 24-354. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 authorizes the Federal Communications Commission (the “FCC”) to fund its programs by charging “every telecommunications carrier” operating in interstate commerce an “equitable and nondiscriminatory” but otherwise unspecified amount of money. 47 U.S.C. §§ 254(b)(4) and 254(d). Those provisions clearly… Continue reading
CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATIONS 