“[paraphrase] This bill is for the workers — the rich will not benefit.”
· Remarks promoting the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
· ×10
The DNC's 200-day review characterized the law as the largest upward wealth transfer in more than 40 years, pairing permanent high-end and business tax cuts with roughly $1 trillion in health and nutrition program reductions, and adding over $3 trillion to the debt over a decade. The tips, overtime and senior deductions aimed at workers all expire after 2028 while the business provisions do not.
“[paraphrase] With tariff revenue, we may be able to substantially reduce or even eliminate the federal income tax for many Americans.”
· Post on X, repeated in 2025 remarks about an 'External Revenue Service'
· ×8
Tariffs never came close to replacing income tax revenue: collections ran about $154.5 billion in the first ten months of fiscal 2026 against roughly $2.4 trillion in individual income taxes. The Supreme Court then struck down the IEEPA tariffs on Feb. 20, 2026, halting collection and triggering an estimated $175–$200 billion in refunds. No income tax was eliminated.
“[paraphrase] We're going to support the family caregivers — I will enact a tax credit for people caring for a parent or a loved one at home.”
· Madison Square Garden rally, New York
· ×5
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act did not include a caregiver tax credit. Twenty months into the term no such credit has been enacted; PolitiFact still lists it as unfulfilled.
“[paraphrase] We are going to end all taxes on overtime.”
· Campaign rally, Tucson, Arizona
· ×20
The 2025 tax law created a deduction for overtime premium pay capped at $12,500 for single filers ($25,000 joint), phased out at higher incomes and expiring after 2028 — not an end to taxation of overtime. Payroll taxes still apply and the benefit is unavailable to workers who take the deduction against no federal income tax liability.
“[paraphrase] We will reduce the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, but only for companies that make their product in America.”
· Economic Club of New York
· ×5
The 2025 tax law left the statutory corporate rate at 21%. Instead of the promised 15% domestic-manufacturer rate, it restored 100% bonus depreciation and immediate R&D expensing. PolitiFact rated the promise a Compromise as of its Jan. 2026 review.
· Truth Social post, repeated throughout the 2024 campaign
· ×14
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025, did not repeal the taxation of Social Security benefits. Instead it created a temporary $6,000 deduction for filers over 65 that runs only from 2025 through 2028 and phases out at higher incomes, leaving many beneficiaries — including those under 65 on disability or survivor benefits — still paying tax. PolitiFact rated the promise a Compromise.
“For those hotel workers and people that get tips, you're going to be very happy, because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips.”
· Campaign rally, Las Vegas, Nevada
· ×30
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act created a deduction for tip income rather than eliminating the tax, capped at $25,000, limited to specified occupations, phased out by income, and set to expire after 2028. Payroll taxes on tips still apply. PolitiFact rated it Promise Kept, but the delivered policy is narrower and temporary compared with the flat 'no tax on tips' pledge.
“We're putting in a resolution some time in the next week and a half to two weeks [and] we're giving a middle-income tax reduction of about 10 percent.”
· Remarks to reporters at the White House, two weeks before the midterm elections
· ×3
Deadline Nov 3, 2018 · 7 years, 10 months overdue
The resolution did not exist. Congress was in recess until after the November 6 election and never returned before it; Paul Ryan's office referred questions back to the White House and congressional leaders said they knew nothing about it. CNBC noted it was 'unclear what type of resolution Trump was talking about.' No such resolution was ever introduced and no 10% middle-class cut was ever enacted.
“[paraphrase] Cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent would raise average household income by $4,000 a year.”
· White House Council of Economic Advisers report
· ×8
The promised wage gain did not appear. Real hourly wages for production and nonsupervisory workers grew about 1.2 percent in 2018. A Congressional Research Service review found the 2017 law had little measurable effect on wages, and much of the corporate windfall went to share buybacks, which exceeded $800 billion in 2018.
“[paraphrase] This is a middle-class tax cut; the rich will not benefit.”
· Remarks in Bismarck, North Dakota, and repeated during the tax debate
· ×30
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut taxes for most but not all filers, and the individual provisions expire after 2025 while the corporate cut is permanent. The Tax Policy Center estimated that by 2027 the top 1 percent would receive roughly 83 percent of the benefits. PolitiFact rated the promise a compromise on December 21, 2017.
“I shouldn't tell you this, but we're going to be announcing, probably on Wednesday, tax reform... it'll be a massive tax cut.”
· Oval Office interview with the Associated Press and remarks at the Treasury Department the same day
· ×2
Deadline Apr 26, 2017 · 9 years, 4 months overdue
Partly kept and heavily deflated. By April 24 the White House was saying Trump would be 'outlining principles' and Mick Mulvaney said there would be no bill language. What arrived on April 26, 2017 was a one-page outline presented by Steven Mnuchin and Gary Cohn, not a plan or a bill. Legislation did not pass until December 2017.
“We're going to be announcing something I would say over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax and developing our aviation infrastructure.”
· White House meeting with airline executives
· ×2
Markets and the dollar jumped on the promise. Nothing came in two or three weeks. Eleven weeks later, on April 26, 2017, the White House released a single-page, roughly 200-word bullet outline of tax principles. Bloomberg noted on June 6, 2017 that it had been fifteen weeks since Trump promised an aviation infrastructure proposal in two weeks. Actual tax legislation was not signed until December 22, 2017.
“[paraphrase] The Middle Class Tax Relief and Simplification Act will let Americans deduct childcare and elder care from their taxes and create Dependent Care Savings Accounts.”
· "Contract with the American Voter," Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
· ×5
The December 2017 tax law did not create the promised child and elder care deduction or Dependent Care Savings Accounts, and did not increase the dependent care deduction. PolitiFact rated the promise broken on December 21, 2017.
“[paraphrase] The tax plan will eliminate the alternative minimum tax.”
· Campaign tax plan
· ×4
The 2017 law repealed the corporate AMT but retained the individual AMT with higher exemption amounts through 2025. The 3.8 percent net investment income tax also remained. PolitiFact rated the promise broken on December 20, 2017.
“[paraphrase] Lower the business tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent.”
· Campaign tax plan and Economic Club of New York speech
· ×12
The December 2017 law cut the corporate rate to 21 percent, not the promised 15 percent. PolitiFact rated the promise a compromise on December 20, 2017. The estate tax was likewise not eliminated; the exemption was roughly doubled instead.
“[paraphrase] Hedge fund managers are getting away with murder; the carried interest loophole will be eliminated.”
· CBS "Face the Nation" interview and subsequent campaign tax plan
· ×10
The 2017 tax law kept the carried interest provision, only lengthening the required holding period from one year to three years for the preferential rate. PolitiFact rated the promise broken on December 20, 2017.
“[paraphrase] A one-time 14.25 percent tax on the net worth of Americans worth more than $10 million would raise $5.7 trillion and pay off the entire national debt.”
· Reform Party presidential campaign proposal / Trump's policy rollout
The arithmetic did not work: Trump's estimate of $50 trillion in total American wealth and the share held by the top 1 percent were both badly wrong, by trillions of dollars. Trump abandoned the campaign in February 2000 and never proposed a wealth tax again. As president he did the opposite, signing the 2017 tax law that cut rates on high earners and estates, and the national debt rose sharply on his watch.