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.
So companies increased prices to cover tariffs and now they are getting refund for money they haven’t lost? Seems like an advanced Nigerian princess scheme to me.
My employer increased all sales by 1% to pay for tariffs because Trump couldn’t make up his mind what was or wasn’t going to be taxed. Well they are still charging 1% on sales. If a project is 1,000,000 and 60% is subcontractor labor, 30% is material, and 10% is internal labor then 70% of the $1mil isn’t directly affected by tariffs and only a small portion of the material is affected by tariffs.
So that’s $10,000 in tariff charges for every $1,000,000 passed along to the customer but only $3,000 of the added cost was material and not all of that material qualified for tariffs. That’s in addition to the margin added to mark up and contingency.
The rest just goes to profit. Wonder why sales are down but profit is up? Maybe we are charging too much?
So we paid the terriffs to the companies AND the refund to the companies.
Nice.
And they’ll do it again to you all because there are literally no consequences! Ironically, America is completely free if you’re rich enough.
It’s like 2008 when banks made piles of money through subprime mortgage frauds that caused a global economic meltdown, got a government bailout to get them through the mess they’d created, and paid it forward by foreclosing on a bunch of people’s homes
Socialism for the wealthy and ruthless capitalism for everyone else
HOPE AND CHANGE
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!
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.
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
Costco actually footed the bill for their members.
Let’s see… $80B spread across 400M people… Who got my $200? Because I sure as shit haven’t seen the check yet.
That’s just the thing: the people aren’t seeing a dime of this.
The companies that raised prices to compensate, often by more than the tariffs so that their profit margins increased, are the ones being paid.
They made record profits while bilking you at the cash register, and now they’re getting awarded for doing so with your tax dollars.
… and companies will keep their prices high because, “That’s what people are willing to pay”.
No, it’s what people were extorted into paying. But … potato, potahtoe.
Unless I see a refund check in the mail, then I don’t care. Where’s our help? Only greedy corps get the refunds. Waste of money.
Fucking DHL is double-dipping: They charged me a tariff inspection fee to import my packages, and now they charge a fee* to request tariff refunds of eligible shipments.
*Or I can make an account on some inscrutable government website, write letters to DHL to get paperwork about my shipments, and try to figure it out myself.
It’s the same strategy as the “cancel anytime” gym memberships. It’s technically true, but they make it such a pain in the ass that consumers won’t do it and the company gets to keep their money.
So they put tariffs on imported goods, so the retailers raised profits. Now theyre refunding the corporates instead of joe consumer?
The govt idiots voted for lol. Not forgetting the dumb sitouts too
Where are my refunds, Jerry?
Tired of all the winning yet?
I’m so tired, I have slipped into a coma.
No one could have seen this coming. /s
The real issue is getting money back for consumers who paid these exorbitant taxes. It won’t be solved. If it is, it’ll land on a future admin. They found the cheatcode.
No-one is mentioning the damage to companies exporting to the US, who are even less likely to get anything back than ameridan individuals
Ah yes, the companies getting their pound of flesh. The trickle down to shareholders should be immediate!
