Tariffs vs. FairTax: What Should Replace the IRS? Spoiler: Neither Saves Us!

Trump’s back, and he’s promising to gut the IRS—ditching income taxes on tips, Social Security, and expat double taxation. On Joe Rogan, he called the income tax a “stupid mistake” pushed by foreign meddlers, floating tariffs as the fix. Meanwhile, FairTax fans pitch a 23% sales tax on new goods and services to kill the IRS and usher in prosperity. So, which wins: tariffs or FairTax? I’m Anthony Parent, 20-year tax attorney and IRSMedic host, and I’ve got a jaw-dropping verdict.
Trump’s tariff plan—10% on all imports, 60% on China—sounds tough, but it’s a dud. It won’t fund the feds (Lincoln proved tariffs couldn’t even bankroll a war). Worse, tariffs screw some while pampering others—look at the 1825 “Tariffs of Abomination” or the Morrill Tariffs that bled the South dry to prop up Northern factories. And we’ve already got tariffs—check the messy Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Sugar tariffs alone prove they favor Big Corn over your wallet. More choice-crushing favoritism isn’t freedom.
FairTax? A 23% sales tax sounds slick, but it’s an excise tax—and those have a rap sheet. The 1791 Whiskey Tax crushed rural folks while Hamilton cheered for hangings. Washington’s revenuers trashed the Bill of Rights to enforce it. Excise taxes still linger (see IRS Pub 510’s 62 pages of nonsense), so why would the IRS vanish under FairTax? Plus, 23% would spark black markets—think Prohibition-level crime, rewarding tax cheats with fortunes.
Verdict: tariffs, FairTax, income tax—all losers. The real villain? A federal government hooked on taxing us into submission since 1791, picking winners and losers with no restraint. New tax schemes won’t fix a system rotten for 233 years—we need a new government, not a new tax. Anthony Parent, IRSMedic—drop your take below, smash that like, and follow for more on the tax tyranny they don’t want you to question!