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"The Tariff Farmers Market" - A Short Story
Tariffs vs Taxes - Why Tariffs are Beneficial to Citizens and Help Stimulate an Economy
*Scenarios are hypothetical and not reflective of the towns they actually represent
Imagine you live in a small town called Ameryka that has a Farmers Market at the town square where all the locals purchase their produce and home goods. You go to the Farmers Market a few times a week to buy your onions, carrots, chicken, hamburgers, soap, cheese 🧀, and maybe even some local spicy margaritas 🍹 ... assuming they have their liquor license of course.
The town square has a large covered building where vendors sell their goods. Three days a week these local vendors bring their goods and sell them to the public. The cost of most of these goods is $4 - $5 each. The cheese dip and spicy margaritas being some of the town's favorites..
All the vendors agree to give a portion of their profits to the Farmers Market to make sure the building is maintained, electricity is paid, the lawn is kept up, and proper book keeping takes place. The agreement was made to charge 30% on all the daily profits - in a way its a tax to make sure the Farmers Market runs smoothly with a little oversight.
The entire community is thriving. People congregate and talk about the town news and gossip - who's opening a new restaurant and who's getting married.
Looking to expand the Farmers Market and bring in other communities for more variety, the President of the Market decides to allow vendors from neighboring towns to sell their wares.
Two towns have been allowed to join the Ameryka Farmers Market. These are the closest two neighboring towns the community has good relations with. There's Cannady to the North and Mexicho to the South - both about an hours drive away.
The townspeople of Ameryka are excited to have such a great variety of new goods. Mexicho to the South has the best soil for growing Avacados, which the locals now have a craving for, and Cannady to the North has delicious Maple Syrup due to a surplus of Maple Trees that have been there for hundreds of years.
These new vendors bring their Avacados and Maple Syrup and the locals ooh and awe over all the new goods. Another thing that adds to the excitement is these vendors also brought similar goods to what was already being sold at the Farmers Market... but cheaper. Cheese from Cannady and Tequila from Mexicho were being sold for $2 - $3 instead of the local $4 - $5. Even tho the cheese and tequila were of lesser quality than what the locals made, they couldn't help but save a couple bucks on what they thought was a deal.
What the locals didn't realize is that Cannady has a surplus of milk but their cows are of inferior quality to the locals. The local cows produce a nuttier and richer milk which makes a better cheese. They've been bred by locals for hundreds of years specifically for this purpose.
They also didn't realize that Mexicho has a surplus of Agave due to its climate and being able to produce year round. Since Mexicho continuously harvests their Agave year round, the quality deteriorates because the soil doesn't have a chance to regenerate. Therefore, making a Tequila that's not as smooth as the locals in Ameryka.
The locals keep purchasing goods from their local friends even tho their prices are more expensive. But over time the competition from the other towns takes hold. Cheese and Tequila are no longer profitable to make in Ameryka. And unfortunately these businesses close shop. Those who dedicated their lives to making their goods are now forced to work for a large corporation doing basic data entry as their specialized skill sets aren't needed.
Years pass and the majority of the local businesses have been forced to close shop as well since they can't compete with the low prices of the neighboring towns. Ameryka, which was once a bustling town filled with entrepreneurs and local businessmen, has now withered away. It's lost its identity. The locals who used to congregate at the Farmers Market now only see each other in passing. Connections and friendships are lost and the town's pride has been stolen..
Without many noticing, the $2 - $3 prices slowly start increasing to $4 - $5 since there's no competition. The once cheap inferior product has become the norm people accept. And now that they can't experience the delicious local cheese and tequila that used to be made, they go about their mundane lives in a fog of deceit.
Seeing the rapid change in their community, the townspeople vote in a new President. He's a successful businessman who's been in the community his entire life and wants to make his town great again.
This new President decides some quick changes are needed if the town is to survive. He notices one of the reasons local businesses aren't able to compete is because the cost of living for the neighboring towns is much lower. Land is cheaper. Food is cheaper. Supplies are cheaper. So he comes up with an idea..
This new idea will seem radical to some but he decides it's the best way to keep money in the community and create jobs that were once lost. This new idea is to charge the neighboring towns a fee in order to sell their goods at the Farmers Market. He calls it... a Tariff.
Cannady and Mexicho will still try to sell their goods for $4 - $5 but now they'll have to pay a Tariff of $2 just to sell their goods at the Farmers Market. This means they'll either have to take less of a profit or they'll have to raise their rates to offset it. They decide to increase their rates to $6.
Locals now see the prices of some goods have risen. They've gotten more expensive overnight. What used to be $4 is now $6 for a product that was inferior to what they produced a decade ago.
Seeing the new demand for goods, the locals of Ameryka start opening their businesses again. Their family Cheese and Tequila are now able to be sold for $4 - $5 as their competition is taking a hit. People begin to taste these goods and realize they've been missing out. It takes about a year for these businesses to come back but they come back stronger than ever.
As a bonus the President of the Ameryka Farmers Market tells the local Vendors that they no longer have to pay the 30% daily fee to sell their goods. The Tariffs they're getting from the nearby towns of Cannady and Mexicho are enough to sustain all the bills and overhead the Farmers Market requires.
This creates an Economic Boom in the town of Ameryka. Locals are able to not only sell their goods for $4 - $5 to make a profit, but now they are able to keep 30% more of their profits allowing them to buy higher quality goods. Morale across town increases, friendships blossom, businesses invest in each other, money stays within the community, and the President looks like a genius. The Cheese Dip and Spicy Margaritas unite yet again and Ameryka is even greater than it was before.
Epilogue:
Years go by and Ameryka is doing great.
The Cheese manufacturers from Cannady and Tequila manufacturers from Mexicho decided they would bypass some of the Tariffs by making their finished goods in Ameryka.
They now ship their milk and agave to the town and employ hundreds of workers from Ameryka to make these products. Jobs are created and money is saved on tariffs. It's a win-win for all.
English
