Trump Says Soaring Tariff Revenues Could Allow U.S. to Eliminate Income Taxes

by Emmitt Barry, with reporting from Washington D.C. Bureau Staff

WASHINGTON D.C. (Worthy News) – President Donald Trump said on Nov. 27 that the United States could “substantially” reduce — and potentially eliminate — federal income taxes within the next few years, citing what he described as unprecedented revenue generated from his tariff policies.

Speaking during a Thanksgiving call with U.S. service members, Trump said tariffs imposed on foreign imports have brought in “hundreds of billions of dollars,” encouraged companies to relocate manufacturing to America, and created enough fiscal capacity to consider deep tax cuts.

He said a portion of the revenue is expected to function “as a sort of dividend to our people,” while much of it would go toward reducing the national debt. “Over the next couple of years, I think we’ll substantially be cutting and maybe cutting out completely … income tax,” Trump said. “The money we’re taking in is going to be so large.”

Trump reiterated similar remarks he made in April, when he suggested that Americans earning under $200,000 a year might see their income taxes reduced or “completely eliminated” once tariff collections matured.

According to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, the United States has collected more than $320 billion in customs and excise taxes as of November — nearly double the roughly $171 billion collected at the same point in 2024. The increase stems from Trump’s baseline 10 percent import tariff and a set of reciprocal duties that have pushed the average U.S. tariff rate to 17.6 percent.

The Tax Policy Center estimates Trump’s 2025 tariff actions will generate about $2.3 trillion from 2026-2035 and add roughly $256 billion to federal receipts next year, though it warns the projections come with “high uncertainty.”

In a Nov. 24 Truth Social post, Trump argued that tariff revenues will grow even more sharply as global buyers exhaust the excess inventory they previously stockpiled to avoid tariff payments. Once those buffers shrink, he said, “Tariffs will be paid on everything they apply to … and the amounts payable to the USA will SKYROCKET.”

“These payments will be RECORD SETTING,” Trump wrote, “and put our Nation on a new and unprecedented course.”

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