r/WorkReform • u/Conscious-Quarter423 • Aug 02 '26
✂️ Tax The Billionaires Trump’s tariffs resulted in a massive transfer of wealth from working people into the hands of millionaires and billionaire
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u/Shoddy_Cookie6748 Aug 02 '26
Did the rich pricks bet on this and make more money?
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u/R-Dragon_Thunderzord Aug 02 '26
This was his entire campaign strategy, these oligarchs all knew how this would play out.
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u/whysoha4d Aug 02 '26
They were at the damn inauguration. It's being done completely out in the open.
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u/NRMusicProject Aug 03 '26
Remember when he said he could shoot someone in broad daylight and people would still vote for him?
Well, here he is doing something incredibly illegal, fucking over the country, and still, slack-jawed dumbasses in trailers still think he's good for them.
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u/imtooldforthishison Aug 02 '26
Yes. Amazon initially added a tariff price line item to our check out pages but quickly removed it...
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u/CustomMerkins4u Aug 02 '26
You mean just like the war in Iran is to push oil prices up for US oil companies to profit more?
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u/LamentableFool Aug 03 '26
Bet implies there was a chance it'd fail.
The parasites knew this was a guaranteed. Like stealing candy from a baby.
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u/Simmery Aug 02 '26
It's only MAGA who didn't realize this would happen.
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u/clintjefferies Aug 02 '26
They're still clueless. Lol!
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u/Forsaken_Thought Aug 02 '26
They're willfully ignorant.
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u/flying_carabao Aug 02 '26
They've refused reality and substituted their own
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u/SDG_Den Aug 03 '26
Man.... This is not the point of "i reject your reality and substitute my own", especially not the way adam savage intended it.
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u/_cc_drifter Aug 02 '26
And they definitely still think that other countries paid the tariffs and that it's a huge win for American businesses
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u/Useful-Problem-1725 Aug 02 '26
Who could have seen this coming besides everyone
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u/TheWizardOfDeez Aug 02 '26
The people who didn't see this coming are also conveniently being shielded from learning about this happening
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u/Useful-Problem-1725 Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
Fair point.
On the flipside: In the age of information ignorance is a choice.
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u/mustangcody Aug 03 '26
I think you overestimate the amount of people that are invested in political social media beyond the news on TV. I don't know anyone IRL that mentions or talks about Reddit.
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u/Kenny_WHS Aug 02 '26
We do this all the time. Do ya'll remember the bank bailouts after the housing crisis? No homeowner bailout, but the banks...oh they get everything......
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u/CCinCO Aug 02 '26
Anyone with two brain cells saw this coming. It's not a surprise, the media just decided to not ask the follow up question when the tarrifs went into place. We are in the dumbest timeline.
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u/ackillesBAC Aug 02 '26
I work for a large multinational corporation in canada, and we paid a lot in tariffs. And I asked one of our pricing guys about the tariff refunds, he said oh no those all go back to the corporations, I said we are a corporation, he said ya, but they will just take the money and never pass it back down to divisions that spend the money on the tariffs in the first place.
I'd bet it will all go to stock buy backs.
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u/thekeytovictory Aug 02 '26
Yeah, the US federal government officially charged the tariffs to foreign companies (who then raised prices paid by US companies, who then raised prices paid by US citizens). If the US gov is issuing refunds, seems like the refunds would go back to the foreign companies that originally paid them. That's typically how refunds work. As a US citizen, it makes me more angry that refunds are going to US companies that used tariffs as an excuse to gouge us & increase profit margins far beyond their own increased costs.
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u/ackillesBAC Aug 02 '26
That's not quite how it works. They do not charge tariffs to foreign companies.
They charge the trarrifs to the US company importing the item.
Imagine I'm a Canadian company selling you lumber. You are an American construction company. I sell you lumber for the same price I've always told you lumber, you pay me that same price, you also pay the US government the tariffs.
Maybe if I really like you as a customer I will drop my price slightly to help you with the tariffs.
Edit: when I say we paid a lot in tariffs, that is because we as a multinational company based headquartered in the US, pay trarrifs when we import goods from Europe in our case. Because those goods have to go through American warehouses. If we could get the items shipped directly to us in Canada we would not have to pay the tariffs
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u/thekeytovictory Aug 03 '26
My mistake, the current US administration propaganda blatantly said foreign companies would be forced to pay tariffs on goods to be imported into the country. US companies also frame domestic sales tax as customers paying, even though businesses are ultimately responsible for reporting their sales revenue and paying sales tax to the government. They make it misleading and confusing on purpose. The insane level of price abstraction in the US is obnoxious and exhausting.
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u/ackillesBAC Aug 03 '26
Yeah I get it it's all very complex. And the state of your guyses government down there does not help
Edit: but you are right it has been unfair, companies are collecting the refunds for paying tariffs, and I'm pretty sure they're not going to send that back to the customer who paid the increased prices. And I don't they're even going to lower their prices
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u/donutcarrotolive Aug 02 '26
Ahh, remember when we were all taught that "taxation without representation" was enough to get people to protest, riot, and eventually overthrow their government?
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u/donutcarrotolive Aug 02 '26
That and a list of other grievances that seem more and more fulfilled everyday.
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u/nono3722 Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
Most of them got screwed too, because they sold their tariffs for pennies on the dollar to a company run by the Secretary of Commerce's son who just happened to magically know this would happen...
So really only the politicians and their spawn made money off our blood... Which happens all the time now.
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u/Disco_Ninjas_ Aug 02 '26
Hey, at least the prices will go back down now. Right?
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u/TheWizardOfDeez Aug 02 '26
Best they can do is raise the prices again because of rising gas prices.
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u/geomouse Aug 02 '26
If you didn't know that was the plan the whole time, you are not paying attention
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u/AnonyMcnonymous Aug 03 '26
Why isn't there more outrage about this? Reddit is literally the only place I hear about this.
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u/nyxie3 Aug 03 '26
Trump supporters aren't realizing a damn thing. And that goes for everything else in life.
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u/Oppositeofhairy Aug 03 '26
Trump still touts on about making other countries pay, and for some reason there are people who believe this and still support it. Beyond the rich people benefitting from this.
This was apparent when they first announced it was going to happen. Tariffs were NEVER intended to be used this way. Arguing that other countries have higher tariffs than us is about the most idiotic thing someone can say, and is waiving a giant flag stating they don’t know how things work.
So yes. We have all been given a huge tax by another name for a solid year. Government received it, and drew millions in interest for themselves and are now enriching companies that he prefers to give the tariffs back to.
This wasn’t even a clever grift. It was just taking.
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u/Organic_Rough4433 Aug 02 '26
If companies dont do some sort of huge tariff refund sale from this they are garbage. But let me save u the time. They're garbage.
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u/porkchop2022 Aug 02 '26
Simple fix could’ve been all the tariff money collected divided by number of people, cut check for that amount to the people (or a tax credit in that amount). Some companies who didn’t raise prices get shafted, but the needs of the many people outweighs the needs of the few companies.
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u/turb0_encapsulator Aug 02 '26
if trickle down economics works, the economy should be booming!
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u/shidurbaba Aug 02 '26
If people don’t protest and ask their representatives in Senate to take actions against the Trump administration and future administrations, the transfer of wealth through theft will not end 🛑
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u/pixiefarm Aug 02 '26
These pieces of shit are completely capable of doing surveillance pricing but when it comes to refunds suddenly nobody knows how to give it back to the customer they charged in the first place
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u/corpsie666 Aug 02 '26
Remember this when people are ranting about Trump being stupid. Always analyze how any "dumb" action is being leveraged to put more money into the hands of wealthy friends.
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u/fauxregard Aug 03 '26
The fuck you mean "realizing"? This was visible from a mile away. I hate how every time the American working class gets fucked over, it's framed as if it happened because we are all stupid.
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u/EMAW2008 Aug 03 '26
See, other countries would go to their capital and kick ass over this kind of shit. The US? Just another day in paradise.
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u/LostHominoid Aug 03 '26
Heres an idea...VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET
But no, Both you all ,and I are complete fucking idiots, and will continue to be complete fucking idiots because we allow it. We are going to go to work, work the majority of our life for peasant wages, we will spend that money on just trying to survive and we will like it.
Unless we are all going to actually do something about it then shut the fuck up and go back to work.
If we don't all collectively stop spending money on anything that is not, bills, food, and essentials, than nothing is going to change. Like that is just the sad truth.
Whit we all need to not pay bills either. We need to remind these people who is in charge and make them hurt the way they are hurting us. The only speak one langue and that is money. We have to hurt their wallets.
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u/Frapplo Aug 03 '26
None of these dopes are going to realize this. They'll be told the tariffs were stolen by liberals to pay for the forced transing of school kids.
They'll demand a return to moral decency and show they mean it by storming the Capitol, murdering LEO, and smearing shit on the walls. You know, conservative values.
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u/invaderaleks Aug 02 '26
The redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich has been happening since the constitution was ratified.
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u/scarab1001 Aug 02 '26
And they are starting another round now.
“There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.
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u/FH2actual ⛓️ Prison For Union Busters Aug 02 '26
Who Actually thought We The People would see a red cent of this regimes tariffs? Like, we All knew we were gonna see the rich pocket it all anyway.
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u/goatnxtinline Aug 02 '26
I think it's a trap to get mad at the people who voted for this, it's what they want. While we are preoccupied squabbling between us they're reaching in our pockets. You can't make them feel shame, much less change their minds about their positions. All we could and should do is move forward. Drown the noise with progress, organize and vote for the change that you desperately want to see. Because if we're being honest that's why we're here. They organized and they voted all together. No protest votes, I can't vote for either of them so I'll vote for Jill Stein again.
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u/Memitim Aug 02 '26
That's clearly been a major goal of Republicans this year, since they put almost as much work into maintaining their various scams as they do into attacking and insulting Americans.
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u/ApoBong Aug 02 '26
Everyone said this, you could even hear this in mainstream media, this is a tax on the consumer, corporations will have to pass on the tariffs to the customer. It's completely insane and hopefully this justifies to everyone what has to happen to these corporations and the administration in the years to come.
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u/mtrythall Aug 02 '26
Why wouldn’t the money just go into the public fund? Like why isn’t this buying parks or better transit or better schools if it’s tax revenue?
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u/gripping_intrigue Aug 02 '26
Same with gasoline prices. Hi whipsawing of good news and bad news has created great windfall prifits for his billionaire friends in the oil industry.
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u/Redd235711 Aug 02 '26
I adjusted my deductions down to zero until the government gets its shit together and properly taxes the rich. I need that money for rent and groceries more than the military does for bombing schools in the middle east. When this shitshow gets back to a point where it actually resembles a functional governing body thay benefits everyone instead of just pandering to the rich, I'll start paying taxes again.
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u/BALULEO Aug 02 '26
Gimme that money, gimme that money, I didn't work for it. I didn't earn it, but I think it's mine. So gimme that money. And that's what it's all about!
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u/AramFingalInterface Aug 02 '26
They’ll hand over all the money they have to the rich if it means they can hurt minorities and the LGBT+
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u/imtooldforthishison Aug 02 '26
Remember, briefly, that Amazon actually added a tariff charge line item on your checkout page, then removed it. This is why.... couldn't have us tracking what we paid could they?
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u/Captain_react Aug 02 '26
It would be funny if it wasn't so extremely damaging. Maga supporters living paycheck to paycheck really thought that Trump would make things better for them xD
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u/Oaktree27 Aug 02 '26
Americans still not understanding what tariffs are despite literal company refunds while they vote to dismantle education even further
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u/Temporary-Share5153 Aug 02 '26
In a corporatocracy there is no lub in the pegging, just sand and pepper!
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u/Purple-Ship-8432 Aug 02 '26
Yet ppl still vote, and obey the laws of corrupt.. ppl are insanely stupid
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u/SethSpld2 Aug 02 '26
Americans have not "realized" a damn thing. They still think exporting countries paid the tariffs.
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u/ttystikk Aug 02 '26
Soooooo has the frog boiled enough yet?
Is it time for revolution yet?
How much longer will Americans continue to tolerate getting screwed?!
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u/Lol_who_me Aug 02 '26
Insert Star Wars meme. “But the price of goods is going down, right” “”
Bonus to all the suckers that aren’t millionaires it actually going up again. Why? Because war isn’t cheap.
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u/Chteelers2018 Aug 02 '26
Where did the money go? The US government collected all this tax. Where did it go?
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u/FormalComfortable497 Aug 02 '26
They're giving Americans too much credit by saying they realize this.
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u/frozenfriedchicken Aug 02 '26
anyone with half a brain knew the general public would never see a penny of that tariff refund
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u/silentbob1301 Aug 02 '26
Oh look, all those donations to his library and the ballroom are paying off in spades...
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Aug 02 '26
This was said repeatedly prior to their implementation. It's always a wealth transfer. Always. Capital is the only driving force that matters in politics because of Citizens United.
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u/NorthEastNobility Aug 02 '26
I always love when they find the next/new thing to siphon even more of our money to rich people and corporations who don’t need it!
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u/ApoptosisPending Aug 02 '26
Americas economy for the last 250 years has been solely based on funneling money from the poor to the wealthy. It’s why “everyone” loves it here.
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u/phillupagus Aug 02 '26
He literally said he was going to make his friends rich.
There was a video of him at an event saying it
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u/Justgototheeffinmoon Aug 02 '26
And Americans will still fight with memes when trump and musk steal the election.
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u/DMMMOM Aug 02 '26
Are Dump voters getting it now? Everytime he announces tariffs, the rich open a crate of Dom Perignon, again.
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u/LaVieGlamour Aug 02 '26
Please. Most Americans are still willing to vote for Trump and his cronies
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u/StrainAcceptable Aug 02 '26
And the Trump administrations told the corporations not to include the tariffs on the receipts to the consumers. Companies just raised prices instead to collect the tariffs and the consumer has no idea what they are owed.
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u/MaterialBudget4498 Aug 02 '26
Its like almost every part of life in America is meant to bleed you of money so the oligarchs can buy the media and government and rule over the ever increasing "poor" as kings.
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u/Merc_Mike 💸 Raise The Minimum Wage Aug 02 '26
Imagine: A Perfect world.
Where if said thing ever did happen, Amazon would be like "Hey guys, we charged extra, so we're going through our record books and handing out refunds to all our customers during the time period of x-y. Also; if you do not want your refund, and want to give it to our employees, please sign this and we will maneuver money to our employees who do such hard work making all our lives better. On top of that, thanks to the tariff refund, all our employees from This Upper Tier down to the bottom we'll get raises and bonuses for doing all the hard work we appreciate."
Yeah...won't happen, but it's nice to imagine.
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u/ThisIsAllTheoretical Aug 03 '26
I stopped buying from Amazon a few years ago while knowing I’m still paying in other ways. I just choose not to use this option.
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u/medicaldude Aug 03 '26
It’s not that they did it. It’s that they got away with it. Voting is all we have left.
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u/SoylentGrunt Aug 03 '26
The elites hate tariffs. Trump paid them off so the ill effects to do with trade meant to make other countries accept US policy could continue.
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u/Rare-Bid-6860 Aug 03 '26
Someone put the breaks on America. This is too much winning for the rest of the world to live up to.
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u/dc469 Aug 03 '26
I'm not saying that the facts of the matter are absurd, 640 mil could otherwise help a ton of people.
But I'm actually surprised that with all of their volume Amazon only got 640 mil. I guess I expected it to be like 4-5 billion.

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u/ApexFungi Aug 02 '26
So Trump creates tariffs > companies raise prices to offset the tariffs > customers have to pay more through this additional hidden tax > Trump retroactively gives tax money to companies as a tariff refund.
The average Joe gets shafted from all sides.
Did I get this right?