Hacker News Reader

What is the difference between a tax, a tariff and a fine?

A fine = following the rules & earning money.

Ps. I hope your being sarcastic

I was not being sarcastic - the question was purely rhetorical. From the company's perspective - there is no difference because they all result in the same thing - transfer of money from the company to the government.

They are not the same thing.

You break the rules = fine

A political protection against something from other countries ( eg. Dumping and killing the internal market) = tariff

Taxes = helping the country/nation, based in money you earned from civilians/local businesses there

These are very different things.

That’s not really true. Tariffs are clearly a form of tax. Both taxes and fines are used to discourage undesirable behavior. One difference is businesses typically assess on their own how much they owe in taxes, whereas the government tells them how much they owe in fines.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com