Submitted by Ellen Brown<\/p>\n
In February, President Trump said<\/a> that tariffs would generate so much income that Americans would no longer need to pay income taxes.<\/p>\n The latest plan<\/a>, according to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, is to abolish income taxes for people who earn less than $150,000 yearly. That move would affect roughly 75%<\/a> of workers, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. On its face, this could narrow the wealth gap by boosting disposable income for low- and middle-income households without raising taxes on the wealthy \u2014 a politically clever alternative to progressive tax hikes.<\/p>\n Eliminating the burden of income taxes is an exciting proposition, due to savings not just in money but in man-hours \u2014 the time spent anguishing over ledgers, forms and receipts. In 2024, according to the Tax Foundation<\/a>, Americans spent 7.9 billion hours<\/em> complying with IRS tax filing and reporting requirements. That is equivalent to 3.8 million full-time workers<\/em>\u2014roughly the population of Los Angeles \u2014 doing nothing but tax paperwork for the full year.<\/p>\n The question is, can tariffs and DOGE replace income taxes? If not, how else could the government fund itself? Is a growing debt bubble that is now carrying a $1.2 trillion interest tab, which must continue to expand just to sustain itself, the only alternative?<\/p>\n Continue reading here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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