Ledger · Second term · № 231
Tariff revenue would let us cut or eliminate the income tax
Broken“[paraphrase] With tariff revenue, we may be able to substantially reduce or even eliminate the federal income tax for many Americans.”
- Promised
- , Post on X, repeated in 2025 remarks about an 'External Revenue Service'
- Re-promised
- 8 times with a fresh deadline
- Topic
- Taxes & deficit
- Era
- Second term
What happened
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.