Monday, January 23, 2017

It's time for some 18th century constitutional issues

Donald Trump made clear today that he has in mind not just a general border tax (which would really be a type of VAT) but a tax specific to products of companies that are determined to have outsourced jobs that previously were in the USA.

US trade policy will therefore be used to punish specific companies (and their shareholders) for decisions that are not illegal, but declared worthy of sanction by the legislature.

That sounds like it violates the Bill of Attainder clause of the Constitution.

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