When you send your children to school, one of the first subjects they learn is math. At an early age they learn that two plus two equals four. When government officials promote their programs, they attach a cost to them, and in many cases the numbers and the claims don’t add up. We call it fuzzy math.
In Washington, there’s a lot of discussion these days about tariffs. Tariffs are the charges that are imposed on goods from other countries that come into this country, and on our products when they arrive in other countries. If you listen to President Trump, he would have you believe that the federal government is making a lot of money on the tariffs we impose on goods shipped from China, Mexico, Canada and European countries.
The idea that tariffs pour tons of money into the federal treasury is simply false. In fact, if your local plumber pays more for copper piping because of tariffs, he passes that cost on to you. Early in the game, when the increases in tariffs were small, many manufacturers and suppliers decided to absorb the cost. But as the months have gone by and the cat-and-mouse game between China and America has ramped up, businesses aren’t swallowing the costs anymore, so you are paying them.
How about the 2018 federal tax reform bill? The president claimed that only a handful of taxpayers would have to pay any additional taxes. That’s partially true. The very wealthy saw their taxes go down. As to the rest of us, if you live on the East the West Coast, you paid a lot more than ever before this year, and next year things will get even worse. And the tax bill that was supposed to bring in trillions has fallen far short. So much for fuzzy math.
Here in New York state, we are getting a fresh dose of fuzzy math. Recently, there were major announcements that our mass-transit system would be blessed with billions of new dollars to rehabilitate our subways, commuter lines and bus operations. There is no question that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is desperately in need of money. Long Island commuters want a renovated Penn Station, direct access to Grand Central Terminal, newer cars and better stations.