Tobacco stems must pay a 458.3 percent tariff. Tariffs on some low-priced shoe imports are 67 percent. The U.S. Tariff Code looks like it was written to encourage the poor to raise their standard of living. If someone buys an imported plastic school satchel, he pays a 20 percent duty. But if he buys a school satchel made of fancy leather, he pays only a 4.7 percent duty.
Mink furs are duty free.
Orange juice carries a 40 percent tariff, but Perrier water pays only 0.8 percent. Worst of all, the tariff on cheap cigars is three times higher than the tariff on expensive cigars. The U.S. Tariff Code looks like a variable value-added tax that was concocted in a lunatic asylum. One of the favorite examples of the new protectionists of an industry that needs more protection is the textile industry. Textiles have already been heavily protected for over 200 years, and are today our oldest infant industry.