Tomas Philipson, former acting chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, calls the Dell family’s $6.25 billion pledge for children a “tremendous effort” and echoes President Donald Trump’s income tax proposal on “The Bottom Line.”
President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that Americans may “not even have to pay income taxes” in the near future, saying rate-driven revenues could enable the historic elimination of the federal income tax under his term.
Trump told a news conference after his Cabinet meeting that “at some point in the not-too-distant future you won’t even have to pay income taxes,” arguing that the revenue the government collects under his administration is now “so big… so huge.”
“Whether you throw it away or just keep it for fun, or keep it very low, much lower than it is now, but you don’t pay any income taxes,” Trump added.
If the income tax is eliminated, it would represent the most ambitious overhaul of the U.S. tax system in more than a century. Trump’s repeated public support for replacing the income tax with tariffs makes this the most explicit endorsement yet.
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President Donald Trump said income taxes for Americans could soon be a thing of the past. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Earlier in his second administration, the president introduced a tax plan that would eliminate the income tax for individuals making less than $150,000, with proposed rates to replace it.
“It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” the president said in January. “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich foreign nations, we should be taxing and taxing foreign nations to enrich our citizens.”
When podcaster Joe Rogan asked him if he was serious about eliminating the personal income tax, then-candidate Trump responded, “Yeah, sure, why not?” and said rates could finance the government instead of payroll taxes.
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President Donald Trump speaks alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on December 2, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
His views on income tax have changed – as part of his prospective run for president in 1999 under the Reform Party. Trump thought a one-time “net worth” tax for people with assets over $10 million.
If serious, Trump’s proposal would require major changes to tax laws and would likely face legislative hurdles with a slim majority in the House of Representatives.
Eliminating the income tax has long been a fringe idea, but with Trump aggressively pushing tariff revenues, the concept has moved closer to mainstream debate.
