For too long, unbalanced trade policies have encouraged a race to the bottom in wages and working conditions worldwide while hollowing out American manufacturing and communities. Under The Fix for Capitalism, we replace the current complex tariff system with a transparent, incentive-driven import tax designed to reward nations that adopt fairer economic systems and protect American workers from unfair competition.
How the import tax works
The new import tax applies to all imported goods and is divided into two categories based on the size and influence of the foreign company.
- Category A: The world’s top 500 companies For the largest companies by global market capitalization, the import tax rate uses the same logic as the Maximum Disparity Income Tax. The rate is the company’s Highest Disparity Ratio across its entire global business chain. A 300-to-1 CEO-to-lowest-worker ratio means a 300 percent import tax on goods sold into the United States. That penalty makes it far less attractive to move operations overseas simply to avoid paying a fair share or to exploit extreme wage gaps.
- Category B: Everyone else For all other companies, the import tax rate is based on the overall tax rate of the country from which the goods originate, using that country’s median worker pay to CEO pay ratio as the primary measure. This is a more moderate, standardized approach that still rewards countries making progress on reducing internal economic disparity and is simpler to administer.
To give countries and companies time to adjust, the full import tax structure will phase in gradually over approximately ten years. Independent verification processes will be used to ensure accuracy and limit manipulation of reported compensation data.
Alignment with the broader plan
By making extreme domestic wage gaps costly through the Maximum Disparity system, we strengthen American industries. The import tax adds external pressure that rewards nations and companies doing the same. Large companies in particular face stronger consequences for maintaining extreme disparity, which helps reduce the incentive to offshore operations purely for cost or tax advantages.
This is not isolationism or punishment. It is leadership. In an interconnected world, someone must set a higher standard. By demonstrating the clear benefits of the Maximum Disparity system (better wages, reduced inequality, and broader prosperity), we encourage other nations to voluntarily move in the same direction. The Pause for the Cause philosophy can spread organically as people around the world see the results.
Critics may warn of retaliation or higher consumer prices. When paired with rising wages from the domestic disparity system and more affordable housing from Step 5, American families are positioned to come out ahead over time. The structure also allows the market to adapt rather than attempting to control outcomes through rigid mandates.
Step 6 ensures that globalization serves the interests of working people rather than exploiting them, while extending the core principles of fairness and balance beyond our borders in a peaceful, incentive-based manner.