Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 03:21am on 25 Feb 2026,Wednesday International
In a landmark State of the Union address, US President Donald Trump made a bold and sweeping economic claim, asserting that tariffs paid by foreign countries could eventually replace America's modern income tax system entirely. Trump declared, stating that tariffs would "substantially replace the modern-day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love." Drawing a parallel to historical precedent when tariffs were America's primary revenue source before income tax was introduced in 1913, Trump framed his aggressive tariff policy not merely as a trade tool but as a long-term fiscal strategy aimed at fundamentally restructuring how the United States government generates its revenue.
