By Harold Pease, Ph. D.
Before 1913, and for 137 years as a nation, the United States had no federal income tax. The expenses of the federal government were covered by tariffs assessed on goods from other countries wishing access to America’s market. Money flowed in externally from other countries. Thereafter, and today, the vast majority of federal expenses come internally out of the pockets of the American taxpayer. The federal government spends what it wants borrowed from a private income source called the Federal Reserve which must be repaid with interest for the use of their money, just like any bank. This is called the national debt which now exceeds 38 trillion dollars.
President Trump knows this debt is not sustainable and a collapse is imminent. He is trying to restore the funding system that sustained the country for its first 137 years as a nation with no national debt. That system is today called the Parallel Economic System which we will switch back to when it can sustain us. It is getting stronger every month. The heart of this Parallel Economic System is the tariff on goods from other countries wishing access to our markets.
The Federal Reserve created in 1913 is the Deep States’ funding, enslaving and destroying entity. They intend we never be out of debt to them and taxpayers give to it a sizable portion of their income every year which seems never to decrease until they are safely dead. We want freedom from it. Until Trump it had no real resistance nor competition. The Deep State wishes to destroy Trump and his Parallel Economic System. No other president has tried to get free from the Federal Reserve. Trump knew that it would be opposed by all Deep State aligned and influenced politicians both Democrat and RINO.
Trump knew his return to tariffs as the principle source of income for federal expenses would be challenged. The Deep State wanted the Supreme Court to rule it unconstitutional to end the competition. Trump tricked them into using our weakest statute on tariffs so it, not the funding practice, could be sacrificed. It worked! After all, tariffs had Congressional approval throughout American history. If he lost the case it could be brought back using a stronger statute. The Court ruled he could not charge countries “even one dollar,” but his tariffs could be used to block a nations unwanted goods from entry. This was vastly more important and certainly suggested retaining tariffs (X22 Report hereafter not cited, Ep. 3845b, Feb. 22, 2026, 53:16).
The tariffs challenged are the ones using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) which is a federal law enacted in 1977 granting the president authority to counter unusual and extraordinary threats to national security without requiring congressional approval or extensive agency review. Because of its vagueness it became the “go to” authority for new tariffs more especially in a “hostile to Trump” Congress (combining Democrat/RINO opposition) becoming the majority in the U. S. Senate.
In the dissent ruling, Justice Kavanaugh encouraged Trump’s use of the other stronger statutes on tariffs going forward. In the 6 to 3 ruling Trump lost the use of this single act in establishing tariffs, not critical to their continued existence, but miraculously won the case to continue them with the minority vote. The need for tariffs was not damaged or even discouraged. The ruling made Trump’s use of tariffs in other statutes stronger. The Deep State tariff threat was vaporized.
On C-SPAN Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained, “The Court did not rule against President Trump’s tariffs. Six Justices simply ruled that IEEPA authorities cannot be used to raise even one dollar of revenue. This administration will invoke alternative legal authorities to replace the IEEPA tariffs.” (“On Tariffs and the Economy” Ep. 3845a, Feb. 22, 2026, 16:16).
Trump wrote, “Now the Court has given me the unquestioned right to ban all sorts of things from coming into our country, a much more powerful right than many people thought we had… But now I am going in a different direction, which is even stronger than our original choice. As Justice Kavanaugh wrote in his descent: ‘The decision might not substantially constrain a President’s ability to order tariffs going forward. This is because numerous other federal statutes authorize the President to impose tariffs and might justify most, if not all, of the tariffs issued in this case. Those statutes include, for example, the Trade Expansion Act of 1952, Sec. 232, TheTrade Act of 1974, Sec. 122, Sec. 201, Sec. 301 and The Tariff Act of 1930, Sec. 338.”
Trump continued, “The Supreme Court’s decision today made a president’s ability to both regulate trade and impose tariffs more powerful and crystal clear rather than less. There will no longer be any doubt, and the income coming in and the protection of our companies and country will actually increase because of this decision. Based on long-standing law and hundreds of victories to the contrary the Supreme Court did not overrule tariffs, they merely overruled a particular use of IEEPA tariffs…In order to protect our country a president can actually charge more tariffs than I was charging in the past under the merits of a tariff authority which have also been confirmed and fully allowed.” Then he doubled down. “Therefore, effective immediately, all national security tariffs Section 232 existing, Section 301 tariffs remain in place and in full force and effect. Today I will sign an order to impose a 10% global tariff under Section 122 over and above our normal tariffs already being charged” (Ep. 3845a, February 22, 2026, 19:04).
The ruling had a possible interesting side benefit. If it is true that “US consumers paid for 90% of IEEPA refunds —$120 BN— should go direct to consumers / firms. And with refund timing open-ended, they can be sent any time before midterms. Did the Court just give Trump the ability now to send everyone a $2,000 dividend check as he suggested last Fall, sometime before the 2026 midterm elections, this from tariff money (Ep. 3845b, Feb. 22, 2026, 48:03)? Perhaps!!
Trumps’ Parallel Economic System was not destroyed by the Deep State as intended and will continue to grow until it replaces the Federal Reserve as the funder of federal expenses as it once was for 137 years and possibly end our federal income tax as well. Wow!!
Dr. Harold Pease is an expert on the United States Constitution and a syndicated columnist on current events. Read his weekly columns at www.LibertyUnderFire.org Column #861
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