Nicholas Conrad on Nostr: Tariffs largely funded the federal government at a time when it did almost nothing. ...

Tariffs largely funded the federal government at a time when it did almost nothing. They never funded the state governments, which before the Civil War were doing most of the functions of state, and as soon as the income tax took effect, they became a negligible source of even federal funding. Additionally, a large reduction in tariffs immediately preceeded the 1950s and 60s, an era you cite as a period of notable domestic prosperity.

It is incidentally mathematically impossible to fund 6 trillion in federal outlays from tariffs. A sort of reverse laugher curve takes effect where the higher the terrifs go, the fewer goods are imported, necessitating even higher terrifs to make up the shortfall, resulting in even fewer imports, etc...