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Nintendo Sues U.S. Government for Tariff Refunds

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Re: Nintendo Sues U.S. Government for Tariff Refunds

#41

Post by bluGill »

bena wrote: post #24
akudha wrote: post #17

Can someone ELI5 how this would work? Is it possible to accurately calculate the amount, with the tariff percentages changing on a weekly basis? If companies do get refunds, do they just keep it? After all, it was the end user who paid/pays, isn’t it? Also, do/will these companies drop prices if/when tariffs are reversed?

You'd have receipts. Every shipment from overseas would essentially have a line item for tariffs due. Just add them up.

Any large company puts all their records in an accounting system so they can figure this out. It make take some time to run the right query, but they have the records. Of course this assumes they put the full breakdown in the system, if it is just the total cost of goods including shipping as a single line item they can't do this - but commonly they will have the break down in some system. (at the very least the shippers/importer will - and they have incentive to run this for you and give you the results - it is fairly cheap and generates goodwill)

Re: Nintendo Sues U.S. Government for Tariff Refunds

#42

Post by catgirlinspace »

ndiddy wrote: post #29
mothballed wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but the sleight of hand here is to just simply say "taxpayer." The taxpayer that paid the tariff was the consumer. The fact Nintendo actually wrote the check is largely accounting, this was passed on to the consumer. The taxpayer that receives the refund is Nintendo, straight into their profits. So the taxpayer paying and the taxpayer receiving are totally different. This is basically like regressive welfare wher…

Yeah the Switch 2 (launched after Liberation Day) costs $449 in the US and 49,980 yen (~$316) in Japan. I doubt Nintendo will be lowering the price of the console outside Japan anytime soon.

the lower cost in japan is due to the low performance of the yen and that model is locked to japanese only. theres a second model in japan that is closer to the price in the US that supports all languages.

Re: Nintendo Sues U.S. Government for Tariff Refunds

#44

Post by hermanzegerman »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #20
tantalic wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they win, the US government collected taxes they shouldn't and those would be returned. Saying the "US taxpayer will pay for it" is equivalent to saying the US taxpayer pays for your tax refund. (And also, Nintendo is a "US taxpayer.")

The consumer did pay for it (not "taxpayers", per se) . Tarriffs went up, prices surged, and consumers paid that. Now companies get a refund and probably won't lower prices unless they feel there was extremely adverse effects. I don't see how the consumer won in any of this.

It's completely irrelevant if the consumer won in any of this.

It's about if the United States is a country that respects the rule of law, or some failed 3rd world state, where the law is only respected if the dear leader likes it.

The first one is much better for economic development

Re: Nintendo Sues U.S. Government for Tariff Refunds

#45

Post by johnnyanmac »

hermanzegerman wrote: post #44
johnnyanmac wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The consumer did pay for it (not "taxpayers", per se) . Tarriffs went up, prices surged, and consumers paid that. Now companies get a refund and probably won't lower prices unless they feel there was extremely adverse effects. I don't see how the consumer won in any of this.

It's completely irrelevant if the consumer won in any of this. It's about if the United States is a country that respects the rule of law, or some failed 3rd world state, where the law is only respected if the dear leader likes it. The first one is much better for economic development

In the lawsuit, no.

But this will only further build up the low trust society when it feels like consumers only lose and never gains any of society's benefits.

Re: Nintendo Sues U.S. Government for Tariff Refunds

#47

Post by fortyseven »

DSMan195276 wrote: post #38
akudha wrote: post #17

Can someone ELI5 how this would work? Is it possible to accurately calculate the amount, with the tariff percentages changing on a weekly basis? If companies do get refunds, do they just keep it? After all, it was the end user who paid/pays, isn’t it? Also, do/will these companies drop prices if/when tariffs are reversed?

In this case because Nintendo has an American branch (Nintendo of America) that imports their goods, Nintendo of America is who paid the tariffs and would get a refund. Consumers only paid indirectly via potential price increases, so no they don't get any potential money back.

And what are the odds those prices are going to come back down? Heh.

Re: Nintendo Sues U.S. Government for Tariff Refunds

#48

Post by SR2Z »

mothballed wrote: post #26
akudha wrote: post #17

Can someone ELI5 how this would work? Is it possible to accurately calculate the amount, with the tariff percentages changing on a weekly basis? If companies do get refunds, do they just keep it? After all, it was the end user who paid/pays, isn’t it? Also, do/will these companies drop prices if/when tariffs are reversed?

The smartest comment I've seen was a proposal to use a negative tariff until the refunds are offset. At least in that case there is some bit of chance that the consumer gets their money back since the supply curve should shift up lowering apparent prices until the negative tax fades off. I'm sure many will point out all the flaws with that and the fact some of it will be captured as profit anyway, but it seems better…

I don't think that would be a good idea for two reasons:

1. Trump could decide what to apply the negative tariff to (e.g. Trump merchandise or his buddies)

2. If there's a fixed amount of money to dole out and suppliers know it, approximately zero dollars will be given back to consumers because it will be easy to capture the money on the importer side.

Re: Nintendo Sues U.S. Government for Tariff Refunds

#49

Post by hermanzegerman »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #45
hermanzegerman wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's completely irrelevant if the consumer won in any of this. It's about if the United States is a country that respects the rule of law, or some failed 3rd world state, where the law is only respected if the dear leader likes it. The first one is much better for economic development

In the lawsuit, no. But this will only further build up the low trust society when it feels like consumers only lose and never gains any of society's benefits.

Well, their fault for voting Trump.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes

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