Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that “working families” would receive the $2,000 tariff checks President Donald Trump has proposed, offering the clearest hint yet at who might benefit from the White House plan.
Bessent Says Tariff Checks Target Working Families
“[The dividends] would be for working families. We will have an income limit,” Bessent told host Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Last Sunday, Trump proposed sending “at least” $2,000 to most Americans, saying his administration would use the revenue from his sweeping tariff program to help pay down the country’s roughly $38.12 trillion national debt.
Neither Bessent nor Trump has said exactly which income groups would qualify for the checks. However, the Treasury Secretary hinted at a Fox & Friends interview last week that the administration is considering caps of around $100,000 in family income.
See Also: Billionaire Bill Ackman Set To Unveil New Proposal For Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Congress Must Approve Plan Amid Stimulus History
It is worth noting that Bessent mentioned during the same interview that any such “tariff dividend” would require congressional approval. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress approved three rounds of stimulus payments, two of which Trump signed, with full checks going to individuals earning up to $75,000 and couples up to $150,000 and phased amounts above that. In all, more than 476 million payments totaling $814 billion went out, according to the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.
Through the first three quarters of this year, the Treasury Department collected $195 billion in tariff duties, according to a September report, far short of what would be needed to fund $2,000 for “most Americans” and still reduce the national debt.
Tariffs Funding Dividends Also Push Consumer Prices Higher
Economists note that the same tariffs meant to fund the checks have also raised prices. Analysis from Yale’s Budget Lab estimates consumers now face an average effective tariff rate of about 18%, the highest since the 1930s, after the administration imposed broad levies on imports earlier this year. Researchers say firms have passed much of the cost on to U.S. households, with lower-income families hit hardest.
Photo Courtesy: Maxim Elramsisy on Shutterstock.com
Read Next: