QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, thank you for the WEC. Many people feel this was your best. Your solution to save our country was spectacular, and you deserved the standing ovation. My question is that you said that Trump and RFK would not listen to you despite everything you have done. You did not explain why. May I ask why?
FP
ANSWER: As I said, Trump’s plan to eliminate and replace the income tax with tariffs will fail. I understand those who proposed the idea, citing that the nation was funded by tariffs before the income tax, and a return to that funding system may look good in bullet points, but the economy is far more complex, and the socialistic goals will not be able to simply be cut without resistance. I had also warned Maggie Thatcher about imposing a poll tax. She thought the people would take the supervisory role as a check on the government if they had skin in the game. But I knew from history it would not unfold as she had hoped.
The entire issue is NOT that companies moved offshore for cheaper labor. That is the Marxist excuse. They moved because of the taxation. When I restructured major multinational companies around the world, we had to consider (1) country risk, (2) stability in taxation, and (3) taxation on the workforce.
I testified before the House Ways & Means Committee. Trump can call up my testimony, but those around him will not allow that to take place. They have their solution in play and will never allow competition, no matter how wrong they are. Welcome to politics. I was then asked why no American company had gotten a contract in China to build the Yellow River Dam. I explained that Americans are taxed on worldwide income, but Germany is not. Thus, an American corporation is already 30-35% more expensive than a German company bidding on the same project.
Trump is married to the idea that tariffs will bring back American jobs—companies left BECAUSE of the taxes. Eliminate the Income Tax, end the borrowing, and do what I said with Social Security, and the companies will return, bringing foreign companies with them. You will create the most significant economic boom in history while the rest of the world completes the economic decline outlined by the Economic Confidence Model into 2028.
Trump is sold on the Tariff idea. He will NOT listen to me. So, unfortunately, the expected economic boom people will have with Trump will be tempered and not a reality. Unless we look at the entire world collectively, we can never fight the global trend. Tariffs will increase inflation and contribute to the economic decline the world will experience into 2028.
