US Remittance Tax Will Hand More Power to Cartels
Governments have spent decades trying to stamp out informal money transfers. This will push payments back underground.
A US remittance tax will hurt nations like India.
Photographer: Kuni Takahashi/Bloomberg
Hidden on page 1,054 of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” is a threat to impose a 3.5% tax on all remittance transfers made by non-citizens to accounts outside the country. This is a dangerous, backward-looking provision, and will make Americans less safe without raising much revenue.
It is easy to understand why a measure like this would appeal to the current administration. It makes migrants’ lives harder, and that’s enough for it to be worth passing into law. And it certainly will create difficulties for millions of legal and illegal immigrants in the US, as well as for their families outside. Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has been a vocal opponent, saying — correctly — that this is unjustifiable double taxation.