Donald Trump said tariffs are a better source of revenue than income tax. Here’s why

Donald Trump discussed reverting the U.S. ’ top revenue source to taxes on imports — tariffs — instead of the income tax.

The American Founders rejected a federal income tax system, opting instead in 1789 to institute an ad valorem tariff on “all articles of foreign manufacture” as the sole mechanism for funding the federal government.

The tax system has fueled a monstrous expansion of federal power and created a military-industrial complex that is insatiable.