Government had been forced to pay back duties to companies that imported goods into the US that were hit by Trump’s tariffs

The US government has already paid back tens of billions of dollars in tariffs it collected before the supreme court ruled them illegal, according to budget figures released on Monday.

Tariffs – taxes on imported goods – have been a key part of president Donald Trump’s game economic plan since he took office again last year.

But in February, the supreme court shut down a big chunk of the extra tariffs Trump ordered, forcing the government to return money to the companies that had paid them.

According to the budget data, the US has paid out $81bn in tariff refunds so far this fiscal year, which started in October 2025, compared to just $5bn during the same stretch last year.

A Treasury department official told reporters that the spike is almost entirely because of the supreme court decision, with most of the refunds happening in May and June.

  • BigMacHole@thelemmy.club
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    10 hours ago

    I can’t WAIT to Receive that BACK as a Taxpayer who LITERALLY Footed the ENTIRE Bills for the Companies who got Refunded these TAX DOLLARS!

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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      11 minutes ago

      They found a new way to steal from the public. New in that no one cared so little about public perception as to do this outright.

    • Dnb@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 hours ago

      Yep until the people get refunds on what they bought and prices go back down, this is is just is double paying. Once at purchase and second time to refund them