A tax by any other name smells as sweet…
Are Trump’s Deals with Nvidia and AMD Constitutional? – Verdict
“The fact that the deals do not label the payments ‘taxes’ should not matter for constitutional purposes. Consider the 2012 decision in National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) v. Sebelius, which upheld the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act. There, Congress took special care not to call the penalty to be charged individuals who did not obtain health insurance a ‘tax.’ Speaking for a majority on this point, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the payment due for not carrying health insurance was nonetheless a tax for constitutional purposes because it functioned as a tax.”
Lawless State Capitalism Is No Answer to China’s Rise – Bangkok Post/Project Syndicate
“Invoking national security and the economic rivalry with China, the Trump administration is pursuing legally dubious interventions and control of private industry, with potentially high costs for US dynamism.”
“…Consider the whirlwind of deals struck this summer. Just 11 days after Intel’s CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, met with Mr Trump, the White House announced that the US government had taken a 10% stake in the company. The Trump administration also secured a “golden share” in US Steel as a condition of its sale to Nippon Steel; forged a multibillion-dollar partnership between the Pentagon and the rare-earth producer MP Materials; and negotiated revenue-sharing agreements with the chipmakers Nvidia and AMD in exchange for easing export restrictions. Apple, for its part, pledged another US$100 billion (3.1 trillion baht) in US investment in return for tariff relief.
“None of these startling moves was approved by Congress, nor has any been challenged in court. Corporate America has remained silent, apparently cowed by Mr Trump’s intimidation of universities, law firms, and other institutions.”