Letter to the Editor: Border adjustment tax will raise my grocery bill

Stock image, St. George News

OPINION — After all the promises by our elected officials to help working Americans, their solution is to raise prices on the everyday items we buy. We need tax reform that will ensure our economy grows and creates more jobs, not create higher prices for consumers.

You don’t need to be an economist to understand that a border adjustment tax on imports will ultimately be passed on to consumers. It means higher prices on groceries, gas, medicine and clothing. Many working families could be paying up to $1,700 more per year for these basic needs. That’s a rough hit that Utah families can’t afford.

As a struggling middle-class worker, I certainly don’t expect immediate change and I’m not looking for handouts. But please don’t make life harder on us by making our basic needs more expensive. I encourage Sen. Hatch to oppose this misguided tax policy and protect Utahns’ household budgets.

Submitted by SUZANNE GLEED, Lehi.

Letters to the Editor are not the product or opinion of St. George News and are given only light edit for technical style and formatting. The matters stated and opinions given are the responsibility of the person submitting them.

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Letters to the Editor are not the product of St. George News, its editors, staff or news contributors. The matters stated and opinions given are the responsibility of the person submitting them. They do not reflect the product or opinion of St. George News and are given only light edit for technical style and formatting.

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5 Comments

  • Not_So_Much March 17, 2017 at 7:14 am

    Perhaps we could end all the tax manipulations and go with a straight forward national flat (or sales) tax which would cover government expenses? Of course a “rebate” for the lowest income bracket and a lower rate for housing as long as it’s a primary residence, but that’s it. All transactions would be taxed with the seller being held responsible to collect and submit.
    Everyone would know what the real cost of programs is and all would be paying (rather than some 40% who don’t now). Special interest would no longer have the influence they do now and politicians would have to stop playing favorites.

  • utahdiablo March 17, 2017 at 8:43 pm

    So you really think securing our Border and stopping all illegal aliens both young and old, and stopping all drugs coming across the border is going to raise your grocery bill, or your clothes, or gas or medicine $1,700? ….Maybe if your buying these things in Mexico, but it’s all about the USA and buying from USA and putting Americans to work and off welfare…we as taxpayers are paying $118 Billion a year to house and feed and school illegal aliens…..so if a 35% tax on dollar store goods fron China makes you have to pay $1.34 instead of .99 cents? oh well….but your Gasoline has nothing to do with China, Canada, or Mexico, we have our own supply although Utah raised the gas tax .05 cents a gallon, and they keep trying to raise the food tax which is total BS ….my Property Tax continues to be raised by 10 – 20% a year to keep building schools and giving teachers a raise, along with heafty pay raises to the school administration, so if you want to complain about someting affecting your take home pay? Look at your property taxes and other state taxes

    • Chris March 18, 2017 at 5:18 pm

      ” your Gasoline has nothing to do with China, Canada, or Mexico” Don’t know much about the oil markets, do you? The U.S. imports oil from both Canada and Mexico. Although foreign imports of oil have declined significantly in recent years, the U.S. still imports 24% of the oil consumed in this country. The Keystone XL pipeline will enable Canada to flood the US with even more of their oil, further depressing domestic production.

    • Chris March 18, 2017 at 5:57 pm

      “So you really think securing our Border and stopping all illegal aliens both young and old, and stopping all drugs coming across the border is going to raise your grocery bill” You really have no idea what the BAT is intended for, do you? It has absolutely nothing to do with immigration or drug smuggling. It is simply a misguided attempt to balance the budget by taxing imports. You seem to think that every problem should be addressed by government control over our lives. That is what the BAT is, more government involvement in the economy, and hence, our lives in general. The bureaucracy necessary to implement a BAT would create a second coming of the IRS. The BAT is a poorly conceived idea and needs to be aborted.

  • ladybugavenger March 18, 2017 at 1:35 pm

    Don’t worry about. The increase of food tax will be on the agenda in Utah next year. This does not include a border tax, just a plain old tax to get revenue for the state.

    Food should not be taxed! And hey, grow your own avocados ? and you won’t have to pay Jose $1.50 for a 50cent avocado.

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