Consumers want tariff refunds, too

One of the many outstanding questions in the wake of the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling is: What happens to all that money the government collected while those tariffs were in place?

Tariffs are a tax that is paid by American businesses and consumers. Many consumers now are wondering whether they’ll get any money back, or will refunds — if there are any — just go to businesses?

Alex Kniffin is not an economist or a lawyer or a trade expert. “But I see the headlines,” he said, "and the headlines tell me that consumers are bearing the significant brunt of it.”

“It” being the cost of tariffs.

Kniffin said those headlines mirror what he’s experiencing as a consumer in this economy. Now that the Supreme Court has struck many of President Trump’s tariffs down, Kniffin — a real estate agent in Connecticut — is wondering if he will get anything back.

“It's easier to figure out which businesses got hit with how much tariffs, but … actually figuring out, OK, Alex and his family in Fairfield are due ‘X’ from everything they spent, I think, is going to be maddening,” he said.

Chances are it won’t happen, said Justin Wolfers, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan.

“Here's the reality: I bought a t-shirt from Target. I didn't pay the tariff directly. Target imported the t-shirt. Target paid the tariff,” he said.

So if the courts do require the federal government to unwind all of that and give tariff refunds, Wolfers said they would likely go to whoever paid the government. In this case, Target.

“Target has no record of the fact that I walked into Target and bought that T-shirt,” Wolfers said.

So it’s hard to see how the company would turn around and pay customers back for tariff-related price increases.

There’s also no guarantee businesses will get refunds.

Mitchell Szpicek owns Little Things Toy Store in Brooklyn, New York. He’s skeptical.

“I don't see it ever happening,” he said.

Szpicek imports about 90% of the toys and games he sells, much of it from China. And he has raised prices on lots of things because of tariffs.

“We would probably reduce prices in some way… if we receive some tariff money back,” he said.

Since he can’t give refunds to every customer who shopped while the tariffs were in place, he said lowering prices going forward would be the only way to trickle down that refund to shoppers.