Taxes, Tariffs, Tardy Tallying, and Thanksgiving Truce

November’s Challenge to Bridge America’s Divide

November 2024 has a real juggling act: it kicks off with a nation practically splitting at the seams over election drama, only to hope that a few days of forced Thanksgiving togetherness at the end of the month can magically glue it all back together.

If election drama boils down to economics, the key question on the ballot is how America should fund its own renewal: through differential tariffs on imports or corporate taxes? Both options increase the deficit with distinct second-order effects. The choice between these approaches will likely be shaped by either a potential Latino realignment or a highly animated post-Roe electorate that October polls haven’t captured well. No one knows which way this will swing.

Turning to the election process itself, it’s worth noting that earlier this year, India—America’s top trading partner and a fellow democratic powerhouse—counted over 600 million votes in a single day, demonstrating that large-scale vote counting can indeed be efficient. In the US, some argue the slower process results from each voter deciding on federal, state, local, and judicial contests all on one ballot. Yet in India, many states also held their own elections alongside the national vote, and the added complexity didn’t slow the process.

This raises the question: Why does vote counting drag on in certain US states? The answer likely lies in systemic inefficiencies. Nevada, for example, often takes close to a week or more to tally votes. Adopting a more streamlined process, like those used in Florida or Georgia, could make the count faster and more reliable, but there seems to be little momentum for such change.