Donald Trump has said he is serious about scrapping federal income tax if he wins the race to the White House.
Speaking with comedian Joe Rogan on his hugely popular podcast on Friday, Trump suggested a return to tariffs on the imports of foreign goods.
He referenced President William McKinley who famously raised the duty on imports to nearly 50 percent when he was in power in 1890.
Rogan, 57, asked the Republican nominee: ‘Did you just float out the idea of getting rid of income taxes and replacing it with tariffs? Were we serious about that?’
He responded: ‘Why not, our country was the richest in the 1880s and the 1890s, a President who was assassinated named [William] McKinley he was the tariff king. He spoke beautifully of tariffs, his language was really beautiful.’
Trump referenced President William McKinley who famously raised the duty on imports to nearly 50 percent when he was in power in 1890
Rogan had asked the presidential nominee if he was serious when he mentioned slashing federal income tax
‘We will not allow the enemy to come in and take our jobs, take our factories, take our workers and take our families unless they pay a big price. The big price is tariffs.’
Trump has repeatedly spoken of his plans to slap tariffs of as high as 60 percent on imported goods, especially on those coming from China.
Appearing at a barbershop in the Bronx on Monday, Trump was asked if the US could end all federal taxation.
Again he floated the idea that he would return to economic policies installed by President McKinley.
He said: ‘It had all tariffs. it didn’t have an income tax. Now we have income taxes, and we have people that are dying.
‘They’re paying tax, and they don’t have the money to pay the tax.’
Trump has yet to provide more detail on just how he proposes that idea would work, it is unclear if he would also drop corporate income taxes and payroll taxes.
He had frequently denied that average Americans would bear the brunt of the cost of tariffs, arguing that companies overseas would pay them.
Despite his claims, The Center for American Progress Action Fund found that a tariff of 10 percent would amount to a roughly $1,500 annual tax increase for the typical US household.
Trump has repeatedly spoke of his plans to slap tariffs of as high as 60 percent on imported goods, especially on those coming from China
A report earlier this year said aggressive tariffs are are more likely to hurt than help working Americans
It would include a $90 tax increase on food, a $90 tax increase on prescription drugs and a $120 tax increase on oil and petroleum products.
The study found while the tax increases would drive up the price of goods, it would fail to significantly boost U.S. manufacturing and jobs.
It estimates that Americans will import $3.2 trillion in goods next year, so a 10 percent tariff would effectively raise taxes on the goods by about $300 billion.
That would be an average of $1,700 per household in the first year. But when it looked at middle-income households which consume about 85 percent as much as the average household, according to Consumer Expenditure Surveys, it suggests a roughly $1,500 tax increase on the typical household.
For food, the tariffs would amount to a $90 tax increase the analysis found. 60 percent of fresh fruit to the U.S. is imported as are 38 percent of fresh vegetables. 70 to 85 percent of seafood is imported. And less than 1 percent of coffee is produced in the United State.
A tariff would also raise prices long term as U.S. farmers face greater costs to get supplies from abroad.
On top of increases for food, prescriptions and oil, it would include an $80 tax increase for electronics, $220 for automobiles, motorcycles and recreational boats, a $70 increase on clothing and a $50 increase furniture, kitchen appliances and other household items.
As part of his podcast appearance alongside Rogan Trump also spoke at large about UFOs, the unopened JFK and Martin Luther King assassination files as well as his recent brush with death.
