Surprise! A Border Adjustment Tax Screws the Poor and the Working Class.

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.


Kadee Russ, formerly a senior economist for the CEA and now a professor of economics at UC Davis, has taken a rough cut at the distributional effects of a border adjustment tax, the front-runner among “sort of a tariff” tax plans currently making the rounds in Congress. A BAT would supposedly raise about $200 billion per year, but raise it from whom? Here’s her estimate:

Isn’t that a shocker? It’s a regressive tax that hits the working class harder than it does the rich. What’s more, the whole point of imposing a BAT is to raise money so that personal income taxes can be slashed on the rich top marginal rates on job creators can be reduced. This whole Trump presidency thing is working out really well for the working class, isn’t it?

TECHNICAL NOTE: Russ calculated the cost of the tax by income decile. I merged her first eight deciles into four quintiles. Click the link to see her original estimates.

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate