Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump · ¶31
The power to impose tariffs is “very clear[ly] . . . a branch of the taxing power.” Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 201 (1824). “A tariff,” after all, “is a tax levied on imported goods and services.” Congressional Research Service (CRS), C. Casey, U. S. Tariff Policy: Overview 1 (2025). And tariffs “raise[ ] revenue,” West Lynn Creamery, Inc. v. Healy, 512 U. S. 186, 193 (1994)—the defning feature of a tax, United States v. Kahriger, 345 U. S. 22, 28, and n. 4 (1953); Sonzinsky v. United States, 300 U. S. 506, 514 (1937). Indeed, the Framers expected that the Government would for “a long time depend . . . chiefy on” tariffs for revenue. The Federalist No. 12, at 93 (A. Hamilton). Little wonder, then, that the First Congress's first exercise of its taxing power (and its second enacted law, right after the one providing for the new officials to take an oath) was a tariff law. See Act of…Read in context ›
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