US President Donald Trump.
Lutnick said more than 100,000 people were on a waitlist and estimated the programme could generate about USD 500 billion. The Tax Foundation has said an earlier USD 2,000 tariff-funded proposal would have cost more than the tariff revenue generated. Trump announced the plan at a Republican convention rally in Dallas, Texas, but did not provide details on how the payments would be funded.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said Donald Trump’s proposed USD 5,000 “dividend” for American adults would not be funded through tax revenue amid questions over how the plan would be financed. Trump has proposed the one-time payment if Republicans retain control of both chambers of Congress in November’s midterm elections, according to The Guardian. Speaking to NBC News, Lutnick said: “It’s not tax money”. He added the administration could “earn the money that Donald Trump wants to pay out, not from the deficit and not from taxpayers”. National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said the administration was considering a congressional “reconciliation process” and argued that the plan could be implemented in a “fiscally responsible way”.
White House officials have floated different ways of funding the proposal.
Election-year promise
Trump’s latest proposal comes ahead of the November midterm elections, where Republicans are seeking to maintain control of Congress.