President Donald Trump just dropped a YUGE hint that he might be on the verge of fulfilling the dreams and wishes of millions upon millions of Americans, accomplishing something most of us thought was never, ever going to happen: abolishing the income tax. And it’s tariffs that are opening the door for this long-awaited, long-hoped-for possibility to become a reality.
In a video clip that’s going viral all across social media, President Trump discussed tariffs and how the administration is bringing the automobile business back to the United States, discussed how the money brought in by tariffs is likely to increase over the next several years, potentially rendering the income tax unnecessary.
“Over the next 2, 3, 4 years, those numbers are going to go up. And, I believe that at some point in the not too distant future, you won’t even have an income tax to pay because the money we take in is so great,” the president said. In a display of his classic wit and humor, Trump jokingly discussed what we might do with the income tax, saying, “Whether you get rid of it or just keep it around for fun, or have it really low, much lower than it is now. But you won’t be paying income tax.”
President Trump then talked about how the administration has saved the American people a whole lot of money by slashing a trillion dollars worth of job-killing regulations. Since Trump was inaugurated and imposed tariffs on dozens of countries, which began to take effect in the summer, these customs duties have pulled in $195 billion for the 2025 fiscal year, which is a serious leap from previous years.
According to Transport Topics, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he believes tariff revenue will eventually grow to a point of pulling in $500 billion annually. All of this assuming adverse rulings do not ultimately get in the way of the administration’s trade policies. However, should such a scenario unfold, Bessent is confident the administration would find ways to apply similar duties through other authorities.
As of now, the yearly income-tax take in is somewhere between $2.6-2.7 trillion. Keep in mind, tariffs won’t be the only major revenue source, so it’s possible to hit this number when everything is totaled up, especially after a time period of 3-4 years of accumulating the money needed to wipe out the nightmare that is income tax.
This isn’t the first time that President Trump has discussed tariffs playing a major role in getting the country to the point where an income tax is obsolete. During an interview with Fox News from April 2025, the president stated there is a “real chance” tariffs could replace the income tax. He pointed back to the period of time in American history between 1870 to 1913 when tariffs were the main source of U.S. revenue.
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“There’s a real chance,” Trump said during the interview. “There is a chance that the money from tariffs could be so great that it would replace. You know, in the old days, about 1870 to 1913, the tariffs were the only form of money. And that’s when our nation was relatively the richest. We were the richest.”
“And this committee’s sole purpose was how to dispose of it, who to give it to, what do we do? And then, brilliantly, in 1913, they went to the income tax system. Then around 1931 or 1932, they tried to bring back tariffs, but it was too late,” the president added. “And they loved to blame tariffs for the Great Depression. But the Great Depression came before they put the tariffs on.”
President Trump was then asked during the conversation about how much money the country was bringing in from tariffs. “Billions and billions of dollars and, hundreds of billions of dollars over a period of a year. Before I gave a little bit of a pause to lower just a little bit because, you know, it’s a transition. You have to be, you have to have a little flexibility. But we were making two billion and three billion dollars a day. We never made money like that,” he replied.
Featured image: screenshot from embedded video