If we were to do away with the 16th Amendment, thereby eliminating Federal income taxes, could the gov't make up the lost revenue via tariffs on imports (or some other method which creates American jobs)?
Seems like a win to me, but I don't know where to start to find the right stats.
They could actually be relatively high though. A 20-30% import tariff is not unreasonable and was actually lower than the norm not that long ago. Frankly, imports would go down but not by as much as you'd think (and that isn't necessarily a bad thing as the tariffs could bolster against offshoring). Still, it would not nearly cover the income tax revenue. Not even by half.
I personally want to see rolling tax tariffs that change depending on the class of the country being traded with. Ie. Mexico should have higher tariffs than Canada. Countries with equal wages should have 0% tariffs. International trade is not my field, But the theories that international trade are based on are extremely old and kinda balk at income inequality and overall economic health of a country (just country wide consumption, which is an idiotic way to view it)