Here’s a letter to the Wall Street Journal.
Editor:
You report that because “Americans are keeping their cars longer than ever … the average vehicle on U.S. roads is about 13 years old, a historic high and a 10% jump from a decade ago” (“Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer Than Ever – and Remaking the Auto Industry,” June 6). One result, of course, is reduced demand for new American-made automobiles.
The Trump administration insists that its tariffs on imported automobiles are necessary to protect the U.S. auto industry and America’s industrial economy. Shouldn’t the administration, then, also impose tariffs (that is, taxes) on Americans who keep their cars too long – say, beyond five years? After all, the demand for newly produced American-made automobiles – for U.S. industrial output – is reduced no less by Americans who lengthen the time they keep their old wheels than it is by Americans who purchase imported cars.
If the endeavor to make America’s economy great again requires that government restrict Americans’ choices in order to raise the demand for newly produced American cars, that endeavor must include not only tariffs on auto imports but also punitive taxes on cars maintained and kept longer at home – and, by the way, also on the sale of used cars.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
