Import Tax

Among the obvious problems this country faces today--and undoubtedly well into the future--are the budget deficit and the trade deficit. Many solutions have been proposed by politicians, economists and scholars. And for every proposal, there have been valid objections, providing a rather dim light at the end of the fiscal tunnel. Let's try this one on for size. I would propose a federal consumer tax of 2% or 3% (whatever is required or deemed feasible) on all competing imported consumer goods.

“Every path hath a puddle.”  --George Herbert   Ice-cold temperatures. Frequent visits to the dreaded "pit" that masquerades as a toilet and nightmares about still being in the Mongolian border holding pen kept me awake all night. By morning I had been sitting at the border for 36 hours.  The border guards were now telling us that, unless money came in to pay for the import tax of the cars, we would have to wait another 48 hours due to the upcoming weekend.

Frustrated by parliamentary resistance, Prime Minister Sergei V. Kiriyenko ordered higher import taxes Saturday in an effort to raise new revenue and win Russia a $17.1-billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. "Unfortunately, the parliament didn't pass all the necessary measures," Kiriyenko said. "That means that we'll have to solve some of our problems . . . by decree."

The Clinton administration is imposing penalty tariffs on foreign lamb in an effort to protect U.S. producers threatened by imports from New Zealand and Australia. Beginning next week, a border tax of 9% will be imposed on the first 31,851 metric tons, the amount of lamb imported last year. Shipments above that will carry a 40% tariff, the White House said Wednesday.

The 100th Congress, when it convenes in January, is certain to face renewed proposals for an oil-import tax. Such a tax, we are told, would be a painless source of billions of dollars to reduce the federal deficit and would prevent the American people and American industry from getting "hooked" again on low oil prices. In truth, however, an import fee would not be painless.

When discussing the "petroleum problem," all experts seem to make the same error. Senators J. Bennett Johnston and Claiborne D. Pell, in their Nov. 23 Viewpoint pieces ("A Levy on Oil, the Pros and Cons of an Import Tax) show that even those who recommend conflicting solutions to the problem fail to recognize this error. An oil import tax would create a price advantage for domestic production over imported petroleum. This would tend to increase the consumption of our domestic supply (including those reserves not yet developed or even discovered)

Maybe I and millions of other Americans are wrong about Japanese cars. Maybe the only thing better about them is the advertising used to sell them. Maybe I don't realize that American cars today are built just as well as Japanese cars. But this is not the point. The point is that as a free individual in a free country I should be able to spend my money on whatever I wish without having to pay any import tax. Economically speaking, if I were allowed to buy a Japanese car at its true price, say $8,000, instead of the government-imposed price of, say $9,000, I would have $1,000 left.

“Every path hath a puddle.”  --George Herbert   Ice-cold temperatures. Frequent visits to the dreaded "pit" that masquerades as a toilet and nightmares about still being in the Mongolian border holding pen kept me awake all night. By morning I had been sitting at the border for 36 hours.  The border guards were now telling us that, unless money came in to pay for the import tax of the cars, we would have to wait another 48 hours due to the upcoming weekend.

Recently I read a letter in The Times from an Upland resident who was "appalled" at the $300 California EPA fee he had to pay to bring his automobile into California. When I was informed that I had to pay this California "import tax" to bring my car into this state, I was outraged! Even more so after I investigated and found that in the 1980s, a law was passed making the Federal and California EPA requirements the same. It should not be a surprise to the letter writer that his truck passed the smog inspection in California; my Blazer also passed with no problems.

The article by Edward Kutler and Glenn Sweetman (Editorial Pages, Feb. 7), "Oil Taxes Are a Step Backwards," presented weak arguments against an oil import tax. No tax is imposed without some complicating side effects. The best reason for this tax is that almost every other industrialized country in the world has used this form of taxation successfully for the past 40 years. If most of the world pays $2 to $3 for a gallon of gasoline, why should not Americans be progressively eased toward making the same sacrifice?

Frustrated by parliamentary resistance, Prime Minister Sergei V. Kiriyenko ordered higher import taxes Saturday in an effort to raise new revenue and win Russia a $17.1-billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. "Unfortunately, the parliament didn't pass all the necessary measures," Kiriyenko said. "That means that we'll have to solve some of our problems . . . by decree."

For most of this century, sugar was king. A handful of barons controlled the Philippines' top export commodity, accumulated vast fortunes and ruled their fiefdoms with iron fists and private armies. But big sugar producers are now begging for help, saying they will be forced out of business along with more than 60,000 workers if tariffs on imported sugar are reduced as planned in July. "If nothing changes . . . most sugar producers will be on the verge of bankruptcy," Negros Occidental Gov.

Faced with shrinking tax revenue and a suspension of credit from the International Monetary Fund, Russia announced Tuesday that it will impose duties on consumer goods carried into the country by millions of small-time "shuttle traders." The new import tax, effective Aug. 1, is the first major step by President Boris N. Yeltsin's government to control a budget deficit that grew to meet the spending promises of his reelection campaign.

With trade talks between the United States and Japan at an impasse, President Clinton's advisers recommended Saturday that he impose a series of sanctions intended to pressure Japan into opening its market to U.S. automobiles and auto parts.

Recently I read a letter in The Times from an Upland resident who was "appalled" at the $300 California EPA fee he had to pay to bring his automobile into California. When I was informed that I had to pay this California "import tax" to bring my car into this state, I was outraged! Even more so after I investigated and found that in the 1980s, a law was passed making the Federal and California EPA requirements the same. It should not be a surprise to the letter writer that his truck passed the smog inspection in California; my Blazer also passed with no problems.

Los Angeles city officials Monday announced a proposal to use $48 million in taxpayer funds to jump-start a stalled Hollywood development project viewed as the cornerstone of the mammoth redevelopment effort for the movie capital. The $300-million Hollywood Promenade project--a vast commercial, retail and entertainment complex that would wrap around the famous Mann's Chinese Theatre--was thought by many to be doomed.

The Clinton administration is imposing penalty tariffs on foreign lamb in an effort to protect U.S. producers threatened by imports from New Zealand and Australia. Beginning next week, a border tax of 9% will be imposed on the first 31,851 metric tons, the amount of lamb imported last year. Shipments above that will carry a 40% tariff, the White House said Wednesday.

Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III today voiced doubt that the Reagan Administration would consider any new tax or fee on imported oil to prop up the nation's sagging oil industry. Despite hard times for energy-producing areas of the country, Baker said, "the lower oil prices go, the better it is for the United States economy overall." Baker also denied that the Administration is seeking to negotiate a cease-fire in the worldwide oil price war.

The Peronist government announced measures to curtail state spending and cut taxes on food imports in a bid to brake frantic price markups as Argentina suffered its second bout of hyperinflation in seven months. Among other measures to reduce state spending, Economy Minister Antonio Erman Gonzalez said, the salary of President Carlos Saul Menem will be reduced 20% and set as the top wage for federal employees.

When Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita took office last November, supporters insisted that his well-known lack of political philosophy, policy-making ability and diplomatic experience would be no handicap. The U.S. government, eager to make friends with the new leader, declared that what was needed most in Japan was not a thinker, like former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, but a doer, like Takeshita. The eight months that have passed have shown that advance billing to be accurate so far.