U.S. Tariffs Penalize Back-to-School Shoppers

COMMENTARY Trade

U.S. Tariffs Penalize Back-to-School Shoppers

Aug 25, 2011 1 min read
COMMENTARY BY

Former Jay Van Andel Senior Policy Analyst in Trade Policy

Bryan served as an advocate for free trade through his research at The Heritage Foundation.

Though parents might be rejoicing that the time has come for their kids to head back to school, their happiness could be tempered by a little-known fact: They’re paying import taxes on everything from clothes to lunchboxes, musical instruments to pencils.

In 2010, the government collected $25.9 billion in tariffs on imported items. Shoppers paid a total of $13.9 billion in tariffs on products like jeans, t-shirts, and tennis shoes. Tariffs are a hidden tax that increases the price of many popular back-to-school items. In the chart below, you can see a breakdown on what is taxed–and by how much.

The back-to-school-supply tax

This piece originally appeared in The Daily Signal