Presidential candidate Donald Trump, with a 65% chance of winning the 2024 election, has proposed eliminating federal income tax, replacing it with tariffs, and using Bitcoin to manage national debt.
In a conversation on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, former President Donald Trump stated that he plans to abolish federal income tax and impose tariffs on imports to generate revenue for the government. Drawing inspiration from President William McKinley's tariff policies in the 1890s, Trump argued that those policies brought prosperity to America and could definitely be reapplied.
"We were very wealthy. We had too much money and didn’t know what to do with it, so they set up a tariff board just to find ways to use that money," Trump said, emphasizing the past success of these policies.
However, many critics argue that tariffs are essentially a form of hidden tax, causing prices of goods to rise due to higher import costs. Trump dismissed this concern, arguing that tariffs will protect domestic workers, increase demand for the USD, and make American exports more competitive in the international market.
Bitcoin as a solution for national debt
In a separate interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News, Trump proposed using Bitcoin to address the national debt of $35 trillion. He suggested that the government could pay creditors with Bitcoin, claiming this is a way to 'wipe out' public debt.
This proposal has sparked controversy. Bryan Courchesne, an asset manager, stated that using Bitcoin as a debt-clearing tool faces many challenges but is not impossible. He suggested that the U.S. Department of Justice could transfer confiscated Bitcoin, currently about 200,000 BTC, to the U.S. Treasury and gradually accumulate this asset as a strategic reserve. However, Courchesne warned that legal and administrative obstacles could complicate this plan.
In addition, Trump is not the only supporter of Bitcoin. Earlier, in early 2024, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent presidential candidate, also proposed using Bitcoin to bolster the value of the USD before withdrawing from the race.
