Hacker News Reader

EU did this years ago when they started applying VAT on small packages. You can still easily buy as much Chinese stuff as you lik, though.

Chaos and uncertainty seem like a much bigger issue in the US than forcing foreign retailers to compete on an even footing with local sellers.

View on HN

chaos and uncertainty are the result of what appears to be fundamental ignorance of how complex economic systems work. policies are being drafted and executed based on a cursory understanding of how things work, and undergirded by barely-suppressed racism.

Chaos and uncertainty are a feature not a bug.

A VAT is specifically designed to try and distort the market less (by taxing the value added at each step). With a tariff the whole point in the distortion, the goal is to make the imported goods less competitive.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com