Donald Trump to end income tax? What US President said on tariffs, reforms

“We’re going to put tariffs on outside countries and outside people that really mean harm to us,” Donald Trump stated, highlighting his “America First” economic strategy.

What did Trump say on taxes

Donald Trump said that the US would impose tariffs on countries, including China and India, that he argued were benefiting at the expense of the American workforce. “Look at what others do. China is a tremendous tariff maker, and India and Brazil and so many other countries,” news agency PTI quoted Donald Trump.

Donald Trump outlined his vision of a new economic model where the US would no longer tax its citizens to enrich foreign nations. Instead, he proposed that tariffs and taxes would target foreign countries to benefit American citizens and businesses.

“Under the America First model, as tariffs on other countries go up, taxes on American workers and businesses will come down,” Trump said.

‘If you want to stop paying the taxes…’

Trump’s tax policies largely favor corporations and wealthier Americans, mainly due to his plan to extend his 2017 tax overhaul, according to an Associated Press report. Key proposals include reducing the corporate income tax rate from 21 per cent to 15 per cent, a call he repeated on Monday during the speech to House Republicans.

Additionally, Trump aims to reverse Democratic President Joe Biden’s income tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans and eliminate the levies from the Inflation Reduction Act, which fund energy initiatives to address climate change.

Despite these changes, Trump has also focused on proposals benefiting working- and middle-class Americans, such as exempting earned tips, Social Security wages, and overtime wages from income taxes.

While speaking to lawmakers, Trump also emphasised the need for American companies to relocate their manufacturing plants back to the US to avoid tariffs. He encouraged businesses to take advantage of what he called an “incentive” to build factories on American soil, particularly in industries like pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and steel.

“If you want to stop paying the taxes or the tariffs you have to build your plant right here in America. That’s what’s going to happen at record levels,” he said.

Trump also outlined plans to place tariffs on key materials used by the US military, including steel, aluminum, and copper. He stressed the importance of bringing production back to the US, lamenting that the country’s ability to produce ships and military equipment had dwindled. “There was a time when we made one ship a day, and now we can’t build a ship. It’s all gone to other locations,” he said.

The president also reiterated his desire to free up rare earth mineral production in the US, which he argued was hindered by environmental regulations. “We have some of the best rare earth anywhere in the world, but we’re not allowed to use it because the environmentalists got there first,” he said, signaling his intention to relax environmental restrictions to boost domestic production.

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