President Trump isn’t just talking about bringing jobs back or securing the border anymore—he’s now laying out a vision that could rewrite the entire foundation of how the federal government funds itself. In a Monday interview with Fox News’ Rachel Campos-Duffy, Trump dropped a bombshell that sent shockwaves through both the political and economic worlds: tariffs could one day replace the federal income tax.
“There is a chance that the money from tariffs could be so great that it would replace [the income tax],” Trump said, pointing to early American history when tariffs—not personal income taxes—funded the entire federal government. In fact, until 1913 and the passage of the 16th Amendment, that’s exactly how things worked.
Trump’s point? It worked before, and in his words, “that was when our nation was the richest.”
Now, after “Liberation Day” on April 2nd—when the Trump administration enacted sweeping tariffs on adversarial countries—Washington is suddenly awash in new revenue. Trump claims over 70 countries have come crawling to the U.S. to renegotiate their trade terms, rattled by the unprecedented tariff structure. And with China sitting under a 125% tariff wall (except for select U.S. national security tech exemptions), Trump is sending a clear message: you want access to our market, you’ll pay for it.
Campos-Duffy noted that Trump “loved the question” and clearly saw the potential appeal of offloading tax burdens from Americans onto foreign governments. “How amazing would that be?” she asked. For many conservatives and working families fed up with bloated government and IRS overreach, the answer is: very.
According to the Tax Foundation, the top 1% of earners currently pay nearly half of all federal income taxes, and the average rate for Americans is around 15%. Trump’s proposal? Slash or eliminate that—and let tariffs foot the bill instead.
It’s not just talk, either. Trump’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency is also exploring so-called “DOGE Dividends”—direct checks back to taxpayers from bureaucratic savings. “Could be a lot,” Trump hinted. “If it’s twenty percent, we could give back a lot of money.”
Translation: tax cuts, tariff revenue, and maybe even government savings that flow back to the people instead of funding more Washington waste.
If Trump has his way, Americans could soon be free from the IRS while foreign nations foot the tab. Now that’s the art of the deal.
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