‘You won’t be paying income tax’: Trump hints at abolishing income tax entirely, but how he’d fund the government is shocking

President Trump is hinting that he might completely get rid of personal income tax. He wants to replace it with heavy tariffs on foreign goods to pay for the government instead. This would totally change the economy if it actually happens.

According to Fox Business, podcaster Joe Rogan asked Trump if he was serious about removing personal income taxes for Americans. Trump answered with clear confidence, saying “Yeah, sure, why not?” He explained that tariffs could easily fund the government instead of taxing people’s wages. He’s now treating this as a serious policy goal for his administration.

Trump has been pushing this idea for a while now. He argues that the US needs to go back to an older system where global trade was the main way the government made money. In January, he said it’s time for the United States to return to the system that made the country richer and more powerful than ever before. He added that the goal should be to help American citizens by taxing foreign nations instead of taxing citizens to help other countries.

Trump’s latest tax proposal goes further than his earlier plans

“Whether you get rid of it or just keep it around for fun or have it really low, much lower than it is now, but you won’t be paying income tax,” Trump told the media after a cabinet meeting. 

Trump floated a different tax plan earlier in his second administration. That proposal only removed income tax for people earning under $150,000, with tariffs still replacing the lost money. Now he’s talking about removing personal income tax completely for everyone.

Getting rid of income tax sounds great for most people. Your paycheck would be much bigger without federal deductions. But making this happen politically is very difficult. Removing the income tax would require huge changes to the entire US tax code. Major companies have faced their own tax controversies recently, showing how complicated tax issues can be.

Trump has a narrow majority in the House, so the proposal would likely face serious problems getting passed. It won’t be an easy fight, and there will probably be major pushback from both political parties.

Trump’s views on taxes have changed a lot over his political career. Back in 1999, when he thought about running for president under the Reform Party, his focus was totally different. At that time, he reportedly considered a one-time tax on people’s net worth if they had wealth over $10 million. That’s completely opposite to his current plan of removing personal income taxes and shifting the cost onto global trade.

Removing income tax used to be considered a fringe political idea. But now, with Trump strongly pushing tariffs as the main way to make money, this concept has moved much closer to mainstream political debate. It shows how much the focus on tariff revenue has changed the conversation about how to pay for the federal government. The president has been making other controversial moves too, including telling government employees to stop certain practices that have been standard since 1988.