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Welcome to The Logoff: The Trump administration is allowing businesses to apply for tax refunds — but consumers who ate those costs through higher prices are out of luck.
What happened? Because the Supreme Court beaten down most of Trump’s tariffs back in February, the administration is legally obligated to return more than $166 billion in revenue those tariffs introduced.
On Monday, they started it by launching their own tax refund portal. They have given the refund process the useful acronym CAPE. That’s short for “Integrated Administration and Input Processing.” Not all heroes wear hats, but tax returners do.
Who gets a refund – and who doesn’t? Basically, only those who paid taxes directly to the US government can apply for a refund.
Maybe that means it’s not you personally. If you bought an imported product, or a product with imported components, you may have eaten the cost of Trump’s tariffs through higher prices or fees. But if you weren’t paying the government directly, there is no refund. Sorry!
what is the main picture? Although the Supreme Court did not address how the refund process should work, the lower court did to command the process of moving forward – and, for now, the administration is playing ball.
Will it last? Trump seemed inclined to try and avoid getting his tax money back in any significant way. He could still walk slowly to get the money back, or make another legal appeal. But the first step in the refund process went ahead as planned, and without drama.
More broadly, Trump has not given up on tariffs. The court only beat some of them; others remain, and he hopes to establish more under different legal jurisdictions. The current tax rate remains about 5 times higher than it was before taking power, according to The Budget Lab at Yale.
And so, it’s time to leave…
This week will bring the peak of the Lyrid Meteor Shower, where up to 20 shooting stars per hour can be seen at night – if the weather cooperates, of course. Take a look space.com for more.
